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Class 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



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I IDflHQ/MONTflNfl 



Sights and 
Scenes 




via THE 




E. DICKINSON, 
Asa't Gen'l Manager. 



S. H. H. CLARK, 
Vice-Pres. and Gen'l Manager. 

E. Ii. LOMAX, 



Gen'l Pass'r and Tkt. Agt. 



OMAHA, NEB. 



1 



night, Leonard t Co., Printers, Chicago. 



^W? 



S2> 




SIGHTS 



'WWTU 



AND 



SCENES 



id ABO* add* mom AD A 




Union E>agifig System, 

OMAHA, NEB. 



,I/IW 



Copyright 1892, 

By E. L. LOMAX, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, 

Union Pacific System, 

Omaha, Neb. 






PRESS OF 

Knight, Leonard & Co. 

CHICAGO. 



LIST OF AGENTS 



BOSTON, MASS. 290 Washington St.-W. s. cONDELL.New England Freight 
ami Passenger Agent. 

K. M. NEWBEGIN, Traveling Freight and Passenger Agent. 
BUTTE, MONT. —Corner Main and Broadway— E. V. MAZE, General Agt. 
CHATTANOOGA, TENN.-P. O. Box 543. 

F. L. LY NDE, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
CHEYENNE. WYO.-C. W. SWEET. Freight and Ticket Agent. 
CHICAGO. ILL. 191 Bo. (lark St.— W. H. KNIGHT. Gen. Agt. P. and F. Dep'ts. 

T. w. YOUNG. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

l>. w. JOHNSTON, Traveling Passengei Agent. 

W. T. holly. City Passenger Agent. 
CINCINNATI. OHIO-27 W. 4th St. -J. 1). WELSH, Gen'l Agt. F.and P. Dep'ts. 

T.C. HIRST. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

a G. SH EAR MAN, Traveling Freight and Passenger Agent. 
COUNCIL BLUFFS. IOWA-U. P. Transfer— A. J. MANDEKSON, Gen'l Agt. 

R. w. CHAMBERLAIN, Passenger Agent. 

J. W. MAYNARD, Ticket Agent. 

J. C. MITCHELL, City Ticket Agent. 421 Broadway. 
DENVER, COLO. -1708 Larimer St. -GEO. ADY, Gen'l Agt. 

C. H. TlTl'S. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

E. G. PATTERSON'. Citv Ticket Agent. 

F. G. ERB. Citv Passenger Agent. 

E. F. LACKNER. Ticket Agent, Union Depot. 
DES MOINES. IOWA-21S 4tli St.— E. M. FORD, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
FT. WORTH, TEX.-D. B. KEELER. G. F. & P. A. Ft. Worth & D. C. Ry. 

A. J. RATCL1FFE. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

N. s. DAVIS. City Passenger and Ticket Agent, 401 Main St. 
HELENA, MONT.-2S North Main St.— H. O. WILSON, Freight and Pass. Agt. 
KANSAS CITY, MO.— 11)38 Union Ave.— J. B. FRAWLEY. Gen'l Agt. 

J. B. REESE. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

H. K. PROUDFIT. Citv Passenger Agent. 

T. A. SHAW. Ticket Agent. 

C. A. WH1TTIER. City Ticket Agent. 1000 Main St. 
A. W. MILLSPAUGH, Ticket Agent. Union Depot. 

LONDON, ENG. -THOS. COOK & SONS. European Pass. Agts.. Ludgate Circus. 
LOS ANGELES, CAL.-229SO. Spring St.— G. F. HERR. Pass. Agent. 
NEW ORLEANS, LA.— 158 Common St.— F. B. AGLAR, Gen'l Agent. 
NEW WHATCOM, WASH. -J. W. ALTON. Ticket Agent. 
NEW YORK CITY— 287 Broadway— R. TENBROECK, General Eastern Agent. 

S. A. HUTCHISON. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

J. D. TENBROECK. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

WM. A. DOLAN. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

J. F. WILEY. City Passenger Agent. 
OAKLAND. CAL.— 12th St. and Broadway— GEO. B. SEAMAN. Pass. Agent. 
OGDEN. UTAH-Union Depot-C. A. HENRY, Ticket Agent. 
OLYMPIA, WASH. -PercivaFs Wharf-J. C. PERCIYAL. Ticket Agent. 
OMAHA, NEB.— 9th and Farnam Sts.— FRANK N. PROPHET. Trav. Pass. Agt. 

HARRY P. DEUEL, citv Ticket Agent. 1302 Farnam St. 

GEO. J. BUCKINGHAM. Citv Passenger Agent. 
, J. K. CHAMBERS. Ticket Agent. Union Depot. 
PITTSBURG, PA. -Rooms 307 and 308 Ferguson Block.-S. C. MILBOURNE, 

Traveling Pass. Agt. 
PORTLAND, ORE. -54 Washington St.— W r . H. HURLBURT. Ass't General 
Passenger Agent. 

GEO. H. HILL. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

V. A. SCHILLING. Citv Ticket Agent. 

A. J. GOODRICH. Citv Passenger Agent. 

A. L. MAXWELL. Ticket Agent. Grand Central Station. 
PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. -Union Wharf— H. L. TIBBALS, Ticket Agt. 
PUEBLO, COLO. -233 North Union Ave.-A. S. CUTHBERTSON. General Agt. 
ST. JOSEPH, MO.— Chamber of Commerce— S. M. ADS1T, G. F. & P. A., St. J. 

&G. I. R.R. 

F. P. WADE. City Ticket Agent, Cor. 3d and Francis Sts. 
JO. HANSEN. Ticket Agent. Union Depot. 

ST. LOUIS, MO. 213 North 4th St. -J. F. AGLAR. Gen'l Agt. F. and P. Dept. 
N. BAI GHT, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

B. R. TITTLE. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

E. a. Williams. City Freight and Passenger Agent. 
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH— 2<H Main St.-D. E. BL'RLEY, General Agent. 

D. s. TAGGART. Traveling Passenger Agent. 
c. P. CANFIELD, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

F. F. ECCLES. City Ticket Agent. 
w. s. evaN's. citv Passenger Agent. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. -1 Montgomery St.-D. W. HITCHCOCK, Gen'l Agt. 

MALONE JOYCE, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

w. R. vice. Pacific Coast Passenger Agent. 

J. F. FUGAZI, Emigrant Agent, 19 Montgomery Ave. 
SEATTLE, WASH.- 705 Second St.— A c. martin. General Agent. 
SIOUX CITY, IOWA.-503 Fourth St.-D. M. COLLINS. General Agent. 

GEO. K. \BBoTT. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

H. M. B1RDSALL, City Tickel Agent, 

GF.o. LEDYARD. City Passenger Agent. 

GEO. F. WHEELOeK. Ticket Agent. Union Depot. 
SPOKANE, WASH. -Cor. Riverside and Washington— PERRY GRIFFIN, Pas- 
senger and Ticket Agent. 
TACOMA, WASH. -1H E. E. ELLIS. General Agent. 

TRINIDAD, COLO. —IF. LINTHURST, Ticket Agent. 
VICTORIA, B. C— 100 Government St.- R. HALL. Ticket Agent. 

eTl. lomax, j7n. brown, 

Gen'l Pass, and Tkt. Agt., Acting Asst. Gen'l Pass, and Tkt. Agt., 

OMAHA. NEB. 



pullma^ palace Cm Compang 

Now operates this class of service on the Union Pacific 
and connecting lines. 



PULLMAN PALACE CAR RATES BETWEEN 



New York arfti Chicago 

New York and St. Louis 

Boston and Chicago 

Chicago and Omaha or Kansas City 

Chicago and Denver 

St. Louis and Kansas City 

St. Louis and Omaha 

Kansas City and Cheyenne 

Council Bluffs, Omaha or Kansas City and Denver 

Council Bluffs or Omaha and Cheyenne 

Council Bluffs, Omaha or Kansas City and Salt Lake City. . . 

Council Bluffs, Omaha or Kansas City and Ogden 

Council Bluffs, Omaha or Kansas City and Butte 

Council Bluffs, Omaha or Kansas City and Portland 

C. Bluffs, Omaha or K. City and San Francisco or Los Angeles 

Cheyenne and Portland 

Denver and Leadville 

Denver and Fort Worth 

Denver and New Orleans 

Denver and Portland 

Denver and Los Angeles 

Denver and San Francisco 

Pocatello and Butte 



Double 


Drawing 


Berths. 


Room. 


$ 5.00 


$18.00 


6.00 


22.00 


5.50 


20.00 


2.50 


9.00 


6.00 


21.00 


2.00 


7.00 


2.50 


9.0.0 


4.50 


16.00 


3.50 


12.00 


1.00 


14.00 


8.00 


28.00 


8.00 


28.00 


8.50 


32.00 


13.00 


50.00 


13.00 


50.00 


10.00 


38.00 


2.00 


7.00 


5.50 


. 20.00 


9.00 


34.00 


11.00 


40.00 


11.00 


42.00 


11.00 


40.00 


2.00 


7.00 



For a Section, twice the Double Berth Rates will be charged. 

The Private Hotel, Dining, Hunting and Sleeping Cars of the Pull, 
man Company will accommodate from twelve to eighteen persons- 
allowing a full bed to each, and are fitted with such modern conve- 
niences as private, observation and smoking rooms, folding beds, 
reclining chairs, buffets and kitchens. They are "just the thing'''' for 
tourists, theatrical companies, sportsmen and private parties. The 
Hunting Cars have special conveniences, being provided with dog- 
kennels, gun-racks, fishing tackle, etc. These cars can be chartered at 
following rates per diem (the time being reckoned from date of de- 
parture until return of same, unless otherwise arranged with the Pull- 
man Company) : 

LESS THAN TEN DAYS. 



Per day. 

Hote"l Cars $50 . 00 

Buffet Cars 45.00 

Sleeping Cars 40.00 



Per day. 

Private or Hunting Cars $35.00 

Private Cars with Buffet 30.00 

Dining Cars 30.00 



Ten Days or over, $5.00 per day less than above. Hotel, Buffet, or 
Sleeping Cars can also be chartered for continuous trips without lay- 
over between points where extra cars are furnished (cars to be given 
up at destination), as follows: 

Where berth rate is $1.50, car rate will be $35.00 

2.00, " " 45.00 

" 2.50, " " 55.00 

For each additional berth rate of 50 cents, car rate will be increased $10. 

Above rates include service of polite and skillful attendants. The 
commissariat will also be furnished, if desired. Such chartered cars 
must contain not less than fifteen persons holding full first-class tickets, 
and another full fare ticket will be required for each additional pas- 
senger over fifteen. If chartered " per diem " cars are given up en route, 
chartering party must arrange for return to original starting point free, 
or pay amount of freight necessary for return thereto. 

PULLMAN DINING CARS 

are attached to the Council Bluffs and Denver Vestibuled Ex- 
press, running daily between Council Bluffs and Denver, and to 
" The Overland Flyer," running daily between Council Bluffs 
and Portland and Council Bluffs and San Francisco. 

MEALS. 

A.11 trains, except those specified above (under head of Pullman 
Dining Cars), stop at regular eating stations, where first-class meals are 
furnished, under the direct supervision of this Company, by the Pacific 
Hotel Company. Neat and tidy lunch counters are also to be found at 
these stations. 



SIGHTS AND SCENES IN IDAHO 
AND MONTANA. 



Idaho is an Indian word signifying " Gem of the 
Mountains," a very appropriate term for the queenly 
young territory. It is 410 miles long, and 257 wide 
in the extreme south, and has an area of over 55,- 
000,000 acres. There are 18,400,000 acres classed as 
mountainous, 15,000,000 agricultural lands, 7,000,000 
acres of forests, 25,000,000 acres of grazing lands, 
and G00,000 acres of lakes. This may be well called 
an imperial domain, consisting, as it does, of 84,000 
square miles. Idaho was admitted to the Union as a 
state July 3, 1890. 

Idaho is in the same latitude as France, Switzer- 
land and portions of Italy, Spain and Portugal. It 
is subject to oceanic influences very similar to those 
countries, and necessarily has a somewhat similar 
climate. All this region is near enough to the Pacific 
Ocean to be very noticeably affected by its currents. 

The Union Pacific system will sell at greatly re- 
duced rates, during the summer season, a series of 
excursion tickets called "Shoshone Tours," covering 
the principal points in Idaho and Montana, using 
Pocatello as a central point. Stop-over privileges 
will be given within the limitation of the tickets. 
Tickets will be good thirty days from date of sale, 
excepting the Yellowstone Park tickets, which will 
hear a limit of sixty days. 

First Shoshone Tour : From Pocatello to Great 
Shoshone Falls and return to Shoshone Station; from 
Shoshone Station to Ilailey (Guyer Hot Springs) and 
Ketchum and return to Shoshone Station, and from 
Shoshone Station to Boise City and return' to Pocatello. 

Second Shoshone Tour: From Pocatello to Soda 
Springs and return. 

Third Shoshone Tour : From Pocatello, via Beaver 
('anon, to Yellowstone National Park and return. 

Fourth Shoshone Tour : From Pocatello to Butte 
and Helena and return. 

In doing the circuit of these tours, the traveler will 



find it most advantageous to use Pocatello as a cen- 
tral point. It is a railroad town of 2,000 inhabitants, 
and lacks any particular charm in scenery or environ- 
ment, but it is a very convenient point for headquar- 
ters while " doing " Idaho ami Montana. The Pacific 
Hotel at the station will be found first-class in every 
particular. - At Pocatello, connections are made with 
Montana on the north, south to Ogden, and east and 
wist on the Portland Main Line of the Union Pacific. 

The Pocatello townsite bill passed Congress Sep- 
tember 1, 1888, ratifying the treaty of May 27, 1887. 
A bill was also passed February 23, 1889, ratifying 
the treaty of May 14, 1880, whereby 350,000 acres of 
land were ceded to the public domain. This tract 
covers the southern portion of the Fort Hall Reserva- 
tion, taking in McCammon Station on the Union Pa- 
cific Railway. This magnificent tract is now ready 
for Government survey, and when thrown open to 
settlers will furnish fine homesteads for thousands of 
people. 

The first tour is from Pocatello to Shoshone Sta- 
tion, and from there by stage to Great Shoshone 
Falls, the wonder of this continent, 

GREAT SHOSHONE FALLS. 

It is a three hours' run from Pocatello to Shoshone 
Station. Not very promising looks the small but 
energetic town, and rather desolate the miles of sage- 
brush that stretch away to the southward, and it is 
twenty-five miles from the railway track to the Falls. 
The method of travel is either by stage-coach or pri- 
vate conveyance. Good teams there are in abun- 
dance, and the distance is made in three and one-half 
hours. But after one has driven the allotted time, 
there are no signs of the Falls ; the same desert 
stretches around, and a purple mountain chain in the 
far south seems to be the ultimate goal. Within the 
last mile or so a few lava ridges have sprung up, and 
passing suddenly around one of these, we find our- 
selves in a natural gate, and there below, a sheer 
1,200 feet, lies the Snake River, and then we hear for 
the first time the music of the Falls. A steep road 
brings us down to the ferry. The water here, 200 
yards above the Falls, is over 200 feet deep, and of a 
greenish color. The ferry is a very substantial affair, 

7 



worked by an under- water wire cable, and another 
safety wire cable above, reaching from bank to bank. 
The cozy hotel is all that could be desired in cuisine 
and menage, and at the very door one stands and 
looks down at the Falls. Shoshone differs from every 
other waterfall in this or the old country. It is its 
lonely grandeur thatjmpresses one so deeply ; all of the 
other historic places have the adjuncts of civilization, 
and one is almost overshadowed by a city while in 
their presence.- The encroachments of men have 
taken away from the charm of Nature. But Shoshone 
is as lonely as when first this rushing river sprang 
through those towering canon walls. The height of 
the chasm above and below the Falls varies from 
1,050 to 1,200 feet, and there is eighteen miles of this 
gorge. The fall proper measures 950 feet across, and 
the Bridal Veil, which is only a few yards back of the 
great fall, 125 feet. Down through this appalling rent 
the river plunges, takes a flying leap of eighty-two feet 
at first, and then falling thunderously 210 feet into 
the boiling basin below. It is three miles up the 
river to Twin Falls, six miles to Blue Lake, a charm- 
ing bit of water seventy-five feet deep and as clear as 
crystal ; one-half mile to the Vaulted Dome ; one- 
half mile to the Locomotive Cave ; a mile and a quar- 
ter to the lower Cascade Falls, and one and one-half 
miles to the Devil's Corral. The hotel is situated on 
the bank overlooking the Great Falls not twenty feet 
from the brink, and affords a view of Bridal Veil, 
Bridal Train, Natural Mill Race Falls, Eagle Eock, 
and BelFs Island. 

One sunset at this enchanted spot will never be 
forgotten. The day began to die, and then came a 
wonderful display. As the sun went down the 
sky flashed into manifold colors— there were bars 
of violet, crimson, and delicate shadings of pink and 
salmon. For a few moments the sun hung over the 
great chasm below the Falls, flooding the majestic 
canon walls with warm glows, and lighting up the 
Falls with surpassing brilliancy ; the river flowed be- 
neath, restless and seething after its mighty conflict. 
Down the red orb went behind the western cliff, and 
great flame-bursts and banners, many-hued, wit- 
nessed his departure. There was a pause — and then 
the pageant dissolved ; cool amber grays crept across 
the dome and deepened into shadow ; another mo- 

o 



ment the day was gone, and starlight npo-n us. 
But at night the place is haunted. The wave circles 
of sound are recurrent— at least two or three are — 
that one especially which resembles the thunder of a 
railway train at full speed. It will come roaring by 
and die away only to return again and again. The 
mystery and majesty of this great organ volume of 
sound arc, at times, appalling. Remember, that the 
one solid theme of the thunder of the Falls never 
ceased — that was permanent and unvarying — but upon 
this monotonous theme were played a thousand varia- 
tions. Once there was a steady tramp, as of a bat- 
talion of soldiers marching strongly and steadily to- 
gether. This died away, and then two voices were 
heard, very far otf, but distinct as if engaged in an- 
gry altercation ; they sank down and the room be- 
came full of vague and shadowy whisperings, then 
the refrain would break out, clinkety-clank ! clinkety- 
clank ! ca-den, ca-den, boom, boom — boom, boom, 
boom (marching time). It was two nerve-trying, 
and we opened the window wide ; the moonlight fell 
full on the Falls and lingered on the rent and ghastly 
sides of the caiion walls. A faint recurrence could 
be detected in the heavy bass movement of the sym- 
phony, if one may so call it, but otherwise there was 
nothing more than the powerful swish and roar of the 
water ; but many a time through the night we heard 
those haunting voices, and weird, uncanny sounds. 

Across the deep, green water we go again in safety; 
up the narrow road along the face of the cliif, and once 
more stand in the magnificent portal and look back. 
Serenely tower the caiion walls in the still summer 
air; placid and calm the river below; the thunder of 
the cataract heard dimly around to the right; golden 
sunshine falling tenderly on the torn and gashed 
outline of mountain wall and dreaming river — a dozen 
steps through the sharp defile, and the picture 
vanishes; there are no mighty deeps — no river, no 
gleam of falling splendor — the waste of the desert 
and the dreary miles of sage-brush creep away to the 
dim horizon on every side — addio, Shoshone, addio. 

The character of the country through which the 
railway traveler passes in Southern and Eastern Idaho 
is adapted to repel rather than attract. The vast 
stretches of lava fields and sage-brush plains become 
monotonous in the extreme; yet amid Idaho's placid 

9 




GREAT SHOSHONE FALLS, IDAHO — reached via the Union Pacific System. 



lakes, rushing rivers, and rugged mountains, may be 
found many a romantic scene. Kocks piled mountain 
high, canons a thousand feet deep, through which 
streams rush, and roar, and foam, cataracts leaping 
from rock to rock, tossing their spray aloft, somber 
forest scenes beneath towering trees, where foliage is 
so dense as to leave a twilight dimness at mid-day — 
these are some of the characteristics of the landscapes 
of imperial Idaho. Chief among all, however, are 
the Great Shoshone Falls of Snake river. 

" The three great falls of America," says Clarence 
King, " Niagara, Shoshone and Yosemite, all happily 
bearing Indian names, are as characteristically different 
as possible. There seems little left for a cataract to 
express/' 

The Shoshone Falls have been called the Niagara of 
the West. The title is not a fortunate one, as these 
falls have a superior scenery peculiarly their own. 
They are higher than Niagara, though during most of 
the year there is less volume of water. Probably the 
best description is that written by Mr. King himself, 
from which we make copious extracts without further 
apology. " A few miles in front, the smooth surface 
of the plain was broken by a rugged zigzag line of 
black, which marked the further wall of the Snake 
Canon. A dull, throbbing sound greeted us. Its 
pulsations were deep, and seemed to proceed from the 
ground beneath our feet. Leaving the cavalry to 
bring up the wagon, my friend and I galloped on, and 
were quickly upon the edge of the canon wall. 

" We looked down into a broad, circular excavation, 
three-quarters of a mile in diameter, and nearly 1,000 
feet deep. East and north, over the edges of the 
canon, we looked across miles and miles of the Snake 
Plain, far on to the blue boundary mountains. The wall 
of the gorge opposite us, like the cliff at our feet, 
sank in perpendicular bluffs, nearly to the level of the 
river, the broad excavation being covered by rough 
piles of black lava and rounded domes of rock. A 
horizon as level as the sea; a circling wall, whose 
sharp edges were here and there battlemented in huge, 
fortress-like masses; a broad river, smooth and un- 
ruffled, flowing quietly in the middle of the scene, and 
then plunging into a labyrinth of rocks, tumbling over 
a precipice 220 feet high, and moving westward in a 
still, deep current, to disappear behind a black 
promontory. 

11 



"It is a strange, savage scene — a monotony of pale 
blue sky, olive and gray stretches of desert, frowning 
walls of jetty lava, deep beryl-green river stretches, 
reflecting here and there the intense solemnity of the 
cliffs, and in the centre a dazzling sheet of foam. In 
the early morning light, the shadows of the cliffs were 
cast over half the basin, defining themselves in sharp 
outline here and there on the river. Upon the foam 
of the cataract, one point of the rock cast a blue 
shadow. Where the river flowed around the western 
promontory, it was wholly in shadow and of a deep 
sea-green. A scanty growth of trees fringed the brink 
of the lower cliffs overhanging the river. Dead bar- 
renness is the whole sentiment of the scene. The 
mere suggestion of trees clinging here and there along 
the walls serves rather to heighten than to relieve the 
forbidding gloom of the place. Nor does the flashing 
whiteness where the river tears itself among the rocky 
islands, or rolls in spray down the cliff, brighten the 
aspect. In contrast with its brilliancy, the rocks seem 
darker and more wild. 

" The descent of 1,000 feet from our standpoint to 
the level of the river above the falls has to be made 
by a narrow winding path among rough ledges of lava. 
"We were obliged to leave our wagon at the summit, 
and pack down the camp equipment and photographic 
apparatus upon carefully-led mules. By mid-day we 
were comfortably camped on the margin of the left 
bank, just above the brink of the falls. My tent was 
pitched upon the edge of the cliff directly overhanging 
the rapids. From my door, I looked over the cata- 
ract, and, whenever the veil of mist was blown aside, 
could see for a mile down the river. 

" The lower half of the canon is excavated in a 
volcanic formation of red and gray rock. It is over 
this material that the Snake falls. Above the brink, the 
whole breadth of the river is broken by a dozen small 
volcanic islands, which the water has carved into fan- 
tastic forms; rounding some into low domes, sharpen- 
ing others into mere pillars, and now and then wear- 
ing into deep caves. At the very brink of the fall, a 
few twisted evergreens cling with their roots to the 
rock, and lean over the abyss of foam with something 
of that air of fatal fascination which is apt to take pos- 
session of men. Under the influence of the cool 
shadow of cliffs and pine, and constant percolating of 

13 



surface waters, a rare fertility is developed in the 

ravines opening upon the canon shore. A luxuriance 
of ferns and mosses, an almost tropical wealth of green 

leaves and velvety carpeting line the banks. There 
are no rocks at the base of the fall. The sheet of 
foam plunges almost vertically into a dark beryl-green 
lake-like expanse of river. 

" Immense volumes of foam roll up from the cata- 
ract base, and whirling about in eddying winds, rise 
often a thousand feet in the air. When the wind 
blows down the cafion, a gray mist obscures the river 
for half a mile, and when, as is usually the case in 
the afternoon, the breezes blow eastward, the foam 
cloud curls over the brink of the fall and hangs like 
a veil over the upper river. On what condition de- 
pends the height to which the foam cloud rises from 
the base of the fall, it is apparently impossible to de- 
termine. Without the slightest wind, the cloud of 
spray often rises several hundred feet above the canon 
wall, and again, with apparently the same conditions 
of river and atmosphere, it hardly reaches the brink. 
Incessant roar, re-enforced by a thousand echoes, 
rills the caiion. Out of this monotone, from time to 
time, rise strange wild sounds, and now and then 
may be heard a slow, measured beat, not unlike the 
recurring fall of breakers. From the white front of 
the cataract the eye constantly wanders up to the 
black, foaming parapet of lava. Angular bastions 
rise sharply from the general level of the wall, and 
here and there isolated blocks, profiling upon their 
sky line, strikingly recall barbette batteries. To goad 
one's imagination up to the point of perpetually see- 
ing resemblances of everything else in the forms of 
rock, is the most vulgar vice of travelers ; to refuse 
to see the architectural suggestions upon Snake 
Canon, however, is to administer a flat snub to one's 
fancy. The whole edge of the canon is deeply cleft 
in vertical crevices. The actual brink is usually 
formed of irregular blocks and prisms of lava, poised 
upon their ends in an unstable equilibrium, ready to 
he tumbled over at the first leverage of the frost. 
Hardly an hour passes without the boom of one of 
those rock masses falling upon the ragged debris piles 
below. 

•• Xight is the true time to appreciate the full force 
of the scene. I lay and watched it many hoars. The 

15 



broken rim of the basin profiled itself upon a mass 
of drifting clouds, when torn openings revealed 
gleams of pale moonlight and bits of remote sky 
trembling with misty stars. Intervals of light and 
blank darkness hurriedly followed each other. For a 
moment the black gorge would be crowded with 
forms. Tall cliffs, ramparts of lava, the rugged out- 
lines of islands huddled together on the cataract's 
brink, faintly luminous foam breaking over black 
rapids, the swift white leap of the river, and a 
ghostly, formless mist through which the caiion walls 
and far reach of the lower river were veiled and un- 
veiled again and again. A moment of this strange 
picture, and then a rush of black shadow, when 
nothing could be seen but the breaks in the clouds, 
the basin rim, and a vague white centre in the general 
darkness. * * * 

"The cliffs around the upper cataract, or "Twin 
Fall," are inferior to those of the Shoshone. While 
the level of the upper plain remains nearly the same, 
the river constantly deepens the channel in its west- 
ward course. In returning from the upper falls I 
attempted to climb along the very edge of the cliff, in 
order to study carefully the habits of the basalt, but I 
found myself in a labyrinth of side crevices, which 
were cut into the plain from a hundred to a thousand 
feet back from the main wall. These recesses were 
usually in the form of an amphitheater, with black 
walls 200 feet high, and a bottom filled with immense 
fragments of basalt rudely piled together. " 

The Hon. C. C. Goodwin, of Salt Lake City, the 
well-known brilliant journalist, has described his im- 
pressions of Shoshone Falls so vividly and with such 
dramatic vigor, that his sketch is reproduced here- 
with. It is a fitting tribute to the " glory and the 
grandeur of Shoshone Falls," as Judge Goodwin aptly 
terms his beautiful description: 

(i The lava beds of Idaho are a marked feature of 
that Territory. Starting near the eastern boundary 
they extend southwesterly for a long distance, and 
are from 300 feet to 900 feet in depth. This mass was 
once a river of molten fire, the making of which must 
have succeeded a convulsion of Nature more terrible 
than any ever witnessed by mortals, and long years 
must have passed before the awful fiery mass was 
cooled. To the east of the source of the lava flow, 

16 



the Snake river bursts out of the hills, becoming 
almost at once a sovereign river, and flowing at first 
southwesterly and then bending westerly, cuts through 
the lava fields nearly in the center of the Territory, 
reckoned from east to west, and about forty miles 
north of its southern border, and thence flowing with 
great curves, merges finally with the Columbia. The 
two rivers combined make one of the chief waterways 
of the continent, and here and there take on pictures 
of great beauty. But there is only one pathway to 
the (J real Shoshone Falls, and that is from Shoshone 
Station, on the Oregon Short Line Division of the 
Union Pacific. 

"The Great Falls are twenty-six miles due south 
from the station, and may be reached in three hours 
by stage or private conveyance. Shoshone Station is 
a busy, wide-awake railway town of 958 people ; 
it is 1,200 miles distant from Omaha ; 1,427 from 
Kansas City ; 788 from Denver ; 298 from Salt Lake ; 
261 from Ogden ; and 624 miles from Portland, 
Oregon. 

" Xever anywhere else was there such a scene; never 
anywhere else was so beautiful a picture hung in so 
rude a frame ; never anywhere else, on a background 
so forbidding and weird, were so many glories clus- 
tered. 

■• Around and beyond, there is nothing but the 
desert — sere, silent, lifeless — as though Desolation had 
builded there everlasting thrones to Sorrow and De- 
spair. 

"Away back in remote ages, over the withered 
breast of the desert, a river of fire, 100 miles wide and 
400 miles long, was turned. As the fiery mass cooled, 
its red waves became transfixed, and turned black, 
giving to the double-desert an indescribably blasted 
and forbidding face. 

" But while this fiver of fire was in flow, a river of 
water was fighting its way across it, or has since made 
war and forged out for itself a channel through the 
ma£S. This channel looks like the grave of a volcano 
that had been robbed of its dead. 

"But right between its crumbling and repellent 
walls, transfiguration appears. And such a picture! 
A river as lordly as the Hudson or the Ohio, springing 
from the distant snow-crested Tetons with waters 
transparent as glass, but green as emerald, with 

17 



majestic flow and ever-increasing volume, sweeps on 
until it reaches this point where the display begins. 

" Suddenly, in different places in the river-bed, 
jagged rocky reefs are upheaved, dividing the current 
into four rivers, and these, in a mighty plunge of 
eighty feet downward, dash on their way. Of course 
the waters are churned into foam, and roll over the 
precipice white as are the garments of the morning 
when no cloud obscures tho sun. The loveliest of these 
falls is called " The Bridr.l Veil," because it is made 
of th^ lace which is woven with a warp of falling 
waters and a woof of sunlight. Above this and near 
the right bank, is a long trail of foam, and this is 
called " The Bridal Trail." The other channels are 
not so fair as the one called i ' The Bridal Veil," but 
they are more fierce and wild, and carry in their fero- 
cious sweep more power. 

' ' One of the reefs which divides the river in mid- 
channel runs up to a peak, and on this a family of 
eagles have, through the years, may be through cen- 
turies, made their home and reared their young, on 
the very verge of the abyss and amid the full echoes 
of the resounding roar of the falls. Surely the eagle 
is a fitting symbol of perfect fearlessness, and of that 
exultation which comes with battle clamors. 

" But th'ese first falls are but a beginning. The 
greater splendor succeeds. With swifter flow, the 
startled waters dash on, and within a few feet take 
their second plunge into a solid crescent, over a sheer 
precipice, 210 feet to the abyss below. On the brink 
there is a rolling crest of white, dotted here and there, 
in sharp contrast, with shining eddies of green, as 
might a necklace of emerald shimmer on a throat of 
snow, and then the leap and fall. 

u Here more than foam is made. Here the waters 
are shivered into fleecy spray, whiter and finer than 
any miracle that ever fell from an' India loom ; while 
from the depths below, an everlasting vapor rises — 
the incense of the waters to the water's God. Finally, 
through the long, unclouded days, the sun sends down 
his beams, and to give the startling scene its growing 
splendor, wreathes the terror and the glory in a rain- 
bow halo. On either sullen bank the extremities of 
its arc are anchored, and there in its many-colored 
robes of light it lies outstretched above the abyss like 
wreaths of flowers above a sepulchre. Up through 

18 



the glory and terror an everlasting roar ascends, deep 
toned as in the voice of fate, a diapason like that 
the rolling ocean chants when his eager surges come 
rushing in to greet and fiercely woo an irresponsive 
promontory. 

"But to feel all the awe and to mark all the splen- 
dor and power that comes of the mighty display, one 
must climb down the deep descent to the river's brink 
below, and pressing up as nearly as possible to the 
falls, contemplate the tremendous picture. There, 
something of the enerirv that creates that endless 
panorama is comprehended ; all the deep throbbings 
of the mighty river's pulses are felt, all the magnifi- 
cence is seen. 

" In the reverberations that come of the war of 
waters, one hears something like God's voice ; some- 
thing like the splendor of God is before his eyes ; 
something akin to God's power is manifesting itself 
before him, and his soul shrinks within itself, con- 
scious, as never before, of its own littleness and help- 
lessness in the presence of the workings of Nature's 
immeasurable forces.' 

"Not quite so massive is the picture as is Niagara, 
but it has more lights and shades and loveliness, as 
though a hand more divinely skilled had mixed the 
tints, and with more delicate art had transfixed them 
upon that picture suspended there in its rugged and 
sombre frame. 

"As one watches, it is not difficult, to fancy that, 
away back in the immemorial and .unrecorded past, 
the angel of love bewailed the fact that mortals were 
to be given existence in a spot so forbidding, a spot 
that, apparently, was never to be warmed with God's 
smile, which was never to make a sign through which 
CnnV< mercy was to be discerned ; that then omnipo- 
tence was touched, that with His hand He smote the 
hills and started the great river in its flow ; that with 
His finger he traced out the channel across the corpse 
of that other river that had been fire, mingled the 
sunbeams with the raging waters, and made it possi- 
ble in that fire-blasted frame of scoria to swing a pict- 
ure which should be first to the red man and later to 
the pale races, a certain sign of the existence, the 
power, and the unapproachable splendor of Jehovah. 

"And as the red man, through the centuries, 
watched the spectacle, comprehending nothing ex- 

19 




APPROACH TO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 

Reched via the Union Pacific System. 

1. Ford at Snake River. 2. Spearing Trcut, Snake River. 

3. Hunter's Cabin, Henry's Lake. 



cept thai an infinite voice was Bmiting his oars, and 
insufferable glories were blazing before his eyes 
through the centuries to come, the pale races will 
stand upon the shuddering shore and watch, experi- 
encing a mighty impulse to put off the sandals from 
their feet, under an overmastering consciousness that 
the spot on which they are standing is holy ground. 

"There is nothing elsewhere like it, nothing half 
so weird, so beautiful, so clothed in majesty, so 
draped with terror, nothing else that awakens im- 
pressions at once so startling, so winsome, so pro- 
found. While journeying through the desert, to 
come suddenly upon it. the spectacle gives one some- 
thing of the emotions that would be experienced to 
behold a resurrection from the dead. In the midst of 
what seems like a dead world, suddenly there springs 
into irrepressible life something so marvelous, so grand, 
so caparisoned with loveliness and irresistible might, 
that the head is bowed, the strained heart throbs 
tumultuously. and the awed soul sinks to its knees. " 

THE BLUE LAKES (Shoshone Falls). 

While Shoshone Falls itself is full of varied and 
never ceasing interest and wonder, its environments 
afford much to attract the tourist or the student of 
nature. One can spend a profitable day examining 
the peculiar lava formation as exhibited in the rugged 
walls of the Grand Canon of the Snake River, both 
above and below the main falls, where they leap into 
tin* seething abyss 2'K) feet below the great precipice. 
Going up the channel three miles are found the Twin 
Falls, rushing through a gorge, walled in by the lava 
and divided into two narrow streams, which shoot 
over the face of the rugged rocks side by side, and, 
with a mighty roar, leap 180 feet downward in one 
rate plunge into the mysterious surging depths 
below. All around is seeming chaos, and such a 
weird, powerful, gigantic presence surrounds the 
visitor that he is overcome with awe, while in close 
proximity to either the Main Falls or the Twin Falls, 

So that when filled by this inexpressible majesty 
and power, and almost dazed by the constant roar and 
rush of waters, it is a relief to turn toward a peaceful, 
quiet little spot known as the Blue Lakes, about 
four miles below the falls. These little lakes are on 

21 



the north bank of Snake River, and are reached by a 
wagon road, by making a slight detour from the stage 
line to the falls. The lakes, and several hundred 
acres of land adjoining, are the property of I. B. Per- 
rine (of Shoshone), who has improved the place by 
stocking the lakes with speckled trout, and by plant- 
ing several thousand peach nnd oth:T fruit trees. For 
trout fishing few better points can be found. The 
waters are perfectly placid and still, shut in, as they 
are, by a semi-circular amphitheatre near the bank of 
the Snake River, several hundred feet below the level 
of the plains on either side. After a row on the lake 
and an exciting time landing the finny tribe, one's 
appetite begins to make demands, and what better 
lunch could be served than a bowl of fresh Idaho 
strawberries and cream, during the latter part of 
April or in May ? or, later in the season, a plate of 
peaches or juicy melon, from the garden close by ? 
The orchard contains about four thousand peach trees 
alone, besides grapes, apples, and small fruits. These 
are now bearing. - Added to the beauty of the lakes, 
the boating, the fishing, the unfailing system of irri- 
gation, which produces such wonderful results in the 
desert places, all these will serve to interest and in- 
struct the traveler who visits the Blue Lakes. 

An extensive canal system has been proposed to 
irrigate the vast plains between the Oregon Short 
Line and Shoshone Falls, but at present the Blue 
Lakes are fed by subterranean streams underneath the 
lava beds, and these streams furnish the water to 
irrigate the farm at the lakes, which is truly an oasis 
in the desert. 

Returning to Shoshone Station, the train is taken 
to Hailey, and the famous Hot Springs visited. 

HAILEY. 

Hailey is situated just where Quigley and Croy 
gulches unite with the Wood River Valley, the junc- 
tion affording a fine view in four directions, embrac- 
ing well-cultivated ranches, and ending with the 
foot-hills. The climate is mild and even, and the 
roads, stretching away on all sides, are perfect. The 
mines at Hailey possess much of interest to the 
tourist, and a good hotel furnishes accommodations. 

One and a half miles from Hailey are the famous 

22 



Hailey Mot Springs. The ride or walk thither is very 
pleasant, leading through a picturesque little valley, 
and the location, in a lovely glen in sight of several 
rich mines, is very pleasing. Large volumes of water 
of a temperature of 150° and containing sulphate of 
soda, iron, magnesia, sulphur, and other desirable 
ingredients, are found in scores of springs. Com- 
modious swimming-baths r.re provided. Many patients 
have gone to these with chronic cases, believed to be 
hopeless, of neuralgia, paralysis, dyspepsia, inflam- 
matory or mercurial rheumatism, and other com- 
plaints for which the Arkansas springs are considered 
a specific, and after a few months of bathing and 
drinking have left completely restored. The baths 
are also very popular with those in good health, thou- 
sands visiting them annually for the delightfully ex- 
hilarating effects of a plunge. 

The largest hospital of Alturas county is near. A 
two-mile drive from Hailey takes the tourist to the 
beautiful valley of Croy Gulch, with an altitude of 
about 5,300 feet. The Bolton Hot Springs, five miles 
from Hailey, are also very efficacious in relieving and 
curing rheumatism. Bellevue, five miles south of 
Hailey, is a pretty little town. 

KETCHUM. 

Ketchum, a- ?apidly growing town of about 400 
to 500 people, lies thirteen miles north of Hailey, 
and is beautifully situated at the head of the Wood 
River Valley. At this point, Wood river is as clear 
as crystal, and rich in the finest of mountain trout. 
The vicinity surrounding affords good hunting, and 
elk and bear abound. The mines round about 
Ketchum are large, and will well repay inspection. 
The Guyer Hot Springs, two miles by stage from 
Ketchum, are noted for their medicinal waters, and 
are of high repute throughout the neighboring 
country. There are many objects of interest, both for 
the tourist and pleasure-seeker, in and about Ketchum. 
The scenery is beautiful, and the climate all that could 
be desired. 

GUYER HOT SPRINGS. 

This romantic little mountain resort is situated 
about two miles from Ketchum and seventy miles 

23 



from Shoshone. Regular hacks run to and fro from 
the springs, in connection with the branch trains. 
The springs are comparatively unknown outside of 
Idaho, but are destined to become famous for the 
well-known medicinal qualities of the waters and the 
great natural beauty of the place. The springs, 
about fifteen in number, gush out from the mountain- 
side intensely hot, and are conveyed a short distance 
by pipe to the bath-house, where there are two large 
plunge baths and quite a number of single rooms with 
tubs. The waters are good for all nervous complaints, 
rheumatism, skin and blood affections. This place is 
much resorted, to by tourists and invalids. It is a 
beautiful, quiet mountain retreat. The accommoda- 
tions for guests are first-class, and in addition to the 
hotel, there are bath-houses, bowling-alleys, croquet 
and tennis grounds, swings, band-stands, and danc- 
ing-platforms — everything, in short, to make a visit 
pleasant. 

BOISE CITY AND RETURN TO POOATELLO. 

From Shoshone Station, passing westward, the next 
town of importance is Boise City, which is now reached 
from Nampa on the Union Pacific Railway, via the 
Idaho Central. Boise City is nineteen miles from 
Nampa, and has an elevation of 2,840 feet. It 
has a population of 2,311, good hotel accommoda- 
tions, and is a point of interest to the tourist. Boise 
City is the largest, wealthiest, and most attractive 
town in the Territory, with good schools and pleasant 
homes. It is in the center of the Idaho fruit-belt. 
A great many medicinal springs are to be found with- 
in the immediate neighborhood of Boise City, easy of 
access, and possessing many charms, both of water 
and scenery. 

It is over half a century since Fort Boise was estab- 
lished on the west side of Snake river by the Hudson 
Bay Fur Company. It was only a trading post for the 
trappers, and was so called because of the Boise 
(wooded) river emptying into the Snake opposite that 
point. All traces of the French-Canadian trappers 
who caught otter, beaver, and other animals in those 
days have passed away; but the country is still marked 
by names given by them to the streams, mountains, 
and localities. 

24 



Climate and general aspect have not changed, ex- 
ceptasthe savage inhabitants and wild boasts have 
been driven hack by the influx of civilization, which 
has changed the broad acres into fruitful fields and 
orchards, dotted the plains with enterprising and 
thrifty towns, cities, and homes, and is fast making 
this land one of the garden spots of the world. With 
this civilization came those great aids of wealth and 
progress, the railways and telegraphs, exerting an 
influence beyond calculation. 

The first settling of Idaho came from the finding 
of gold, and the stampede which followed to the Oro 
Fino country in 1861 and 1862. This mining excite- 
ment in the north caused prospecting southward, and 
in the following year Boise Basin and the Owyhee 
countries had their mining excitements, bringing 
hundreds of prospectors from the camps of Califor- 
nia, Xevada and other districts. 

The site of Boise City qffered such favorable in- 
ducements for a town that it at once became a trading 
point and winter quarters for the placer miners who 
wanted a pleasant place to remain during the season 
of inactivity in the placers. Boise City thus became 
the commercial town of Idaho, and in the organiza- 
tion of the county became the county seat, and, very 
appropriately, is the capital of the territory. 

Boise City is situated on "the north side of Boise 
River, about fifty miles above its confluence with 
Snake River. On what was once a sage-brush plain, 
apparently almost a desert, such as constitutes so vast 
an area of western territory, clear-sighted American 
grit and enterprise have, within a little over twenty 
years, built a town which is the pride of its citizens 
and admiration of strangers. This was done when a 
railway was not within 300 miles, and all supplies had 
to be hauled these hundreds of miles across plains 
beset with apparently insurmountable difficulties. 
The railway came nearer only a few years ago, mak- 
ing a great change, and now the Idaho Central branch 
of the Union Pacific Railway has come to the very 
doors of the town, citizens have all the advantages of 
other places, and will soon forget the privations of 
the past. 

The growth of Boise City, from the first down to 
the present, has been steady and sure. It has been a 
healthy growth, without a boom at any time, and has 

25 



never been affected by temporary excitements, but 
has advanced year by year permanently, each being 
an improvement over the former year. 

The streets are wide and clean, and have good 
crossings, and the dense growth of shade trees on 
each side of all the streets makes the avenues delight- 
fully shady end pleasant. The business part of the 
town is substantially built with brick and stone, a 
city ordinance forbidding the erection of wooden 
buildings within certain limits. 

Five miles above Boise City, up the Boise Valley, 
are a dozen or more hot springs. Some are boiling 
hot, while others are moderately warm. The water 
possesses great medical qualities, and persons afflicted 
with rheumatism, paralysis, malaria or any chronic 
diseases are sure to find relief in a short time after 
bathing in these springs. Steam baths, mud baths, 
tub and plunge baths are supplied, and the doctors 
who are acquainted with the curative properties of 
these waters pronounce them equal to the Arkansas 
hot springs, Paso Eoble, in California, or any springs 
in the world, and recommend them with great favor 
to patients. The conveniences and accommodations 
for guests at these springs will be largely improved 
another season, and they will soon become the Sara- 
toga of the Northwest. Nature has made it a place 
of great curiosity, and the waters have always proved 
so beneficial that the springs only need to be known 
to become famous. The drive to the springs is 
through a thickly settled portion of the suburbs of 
the city, studded on either side by beautiful orchards 
and groves, laden at the proper season with the most 
delicious fruits. The United States penitentiary is 
passed a quarter of a mile to the left, when we soon 
come near the river bank, where a bluff two miles or 
more in length forms the immense stone quarries that 
furnish building material for Boise City and Southern 
Idaho. We next reach the large farm and stock 
ranch which belongs to the springs property, the 
springs lying in a large cove or gulch to the right, a 
portion of the water falling over thirty feet in height, 
forming a picturesque appearance, causing admiration 
and astonishment to the beholder. This is one of 

26 






the loveliest drives out of Boise City, and a place of 
groat resort for the people of the city and visitors who 
come to the capital. Fish ponds, groves, orchards 
and places of amusement are in course of construe, 
tio'n, and the bountiful supply of the table from the 
dairy and farm products of the proprietor will make 
it a desirable place to spend the summer months, 
while the hunting and fishing grounds in the hills 
and mountains near by and up the Boise Eiver will 
furnish ample sport to all who enjoy the rod and gun. 
The second tour is from Pocatello to 

SODA SPRINGS. 

This famous resort has become well known to tour- 
ists only within the past few years. The new hotel, 
the Idanha, elegant and commodious, meets all re- 
quirements for ease and comfort, while the sanitary 
effects of the waters are incomparable. 

Soda Springs has an elevation of 5,780 feet above 
sea level, and is 1,021 miles from Omaha, 798 from 
Portland, 258 from Salt Lake, and 221 from Ogden. 
There are trains by way of Pocatello or Granger; and 
through passengers may reach it from the east or 
west. The temperature is beautifully even and mild 
in summer. These springs have been known of men 
for above half a century. The Spaniards w T ere here, 
we know; because at the Cariboo Mines, fifty-five 
miles north, weapons w T ith the mark of Spain upon 
them have been found. The Indians have always 
held the springs in great veneration, and Brigham 
Young blessed them when he visited the place in 
1868. It is more than probable that the first white 
men of recent times who were here were members of 
the old Rocky Mountain Fur Company. A party of 
them were at Salt Lake in 1824 and wintered there. 
They made explorations north, and traced the course 
of several rivers in the adjacent territory, but we 
have no record of a visit to Soda Springs. In 1826 
many trappers and hunters were exploring the Yel- 
lowstone and Bear Rivers, and it is supposed visited 
here. The springs were a favorite spot in the early 
fifties for overland travelers to stop and recruit, and 
all through the later years, when the great trains of 
gold- seekers and emigrants passed over the old Oregon 
trail, they paused at Soda Springs to refresh them- 
selves and rest their jaded horses and cattle. 

27 



There are no Indian legends connected with the 
springs. The modern noble red man regards these 
bubbling miracles as " big medicine," and refuses to 
drink of them. They would go miles to get fresh run- 
ning water rather than touch the springs. Soda Creek 
runs sparkling down and empties south into Bear 
River. The basin in which these springs are located 
is about twelve miles long by four wide. The area of 
spring district usually visited is about six miles by 
three, but the whole country is impregnated for a 
long distance away up to Blackfoot. There are but 
few springs of any consequence north of this point — 
that is, into the upper country of Montana and the 
adjacent mountain country. 

There are thirteen springs within a radius of one- 
half a mile from the hotel — the first one, 200 feet 
from the hotel,, bubbles from the top of a conical 
mound. Swan Lake, six miles east, is a beautiful 
sheet of water of unknown depth; Formation Springs, 
five miles northeast, shows some curious effects of 
lime deposit, petrifying moss leaves and twigs per- 
fectly. Hooper Spring, one and one-half miles dis- 
tant, is a beauty ; but all pale into insignificance 
before the Mammoth Spring. This is five miles from 
the station. The road leads one to a level stretch of 
prairie covered with waving grass rimmed in by foot- 
hills. One walks to the very margin of the spring 
before it is discovered, so completely is it hidden. 
And there within a circle of a few yards a dozen 
springs form a pool. The water is intensely blue and 
very deep. Looking down into those unfathomed 
depths one sees, in brilliant contrast to the color of 
the water, a white column cleave its way up from its 
mysterious home and break in beaded jets upon the 
surface. There is a weird fascination in watching it, 
and to drink at this fountain is to taste Nature's cham- 
pagne. This spring and the Hooper are very strongly 
charged, and offer a most delicious beverage. Chlo- 
ride of sodium, bicarbonate of magnesium and bicar- 
bonate of calsium predominate, and an excess of free 
carbonic acid gas. The health-giving properties of 
the waters are widely known, and are recommended 
by the faculty as a specific for indigestion, stomach 
and kidney troubles, etc. Springs near the station 
are strongly tinctured with iron, and are an effectual 
remedy for thin blood, ladies in delicate health, etc. 

29 



The " Idanha" water is bottled at the works about a 
mile from the station. Many charming excursions 
can be arranged from Soda Springs. There is fine 
fishing on all sides, mountain climbing for those who 
desire it, plenty of sport in duck shooting, and an 
infinite variety of lovely drives in every direction. 

Beyond the possibility of a doubt, those bright, 
sparkling waters, bursting forth from the earth in a 
hitherto but little known valley of Idaho, and now 
bearing the name of Soda Springs, are yet to become 
of world-wide celebrity. When the ITnion Pacific 
Company built the Oregon Short Line from Granger 
westward, passing through the secluded valley and 
within a few feet of many of the springs, the destiny 
of the place was changed. Henceforward, instead of 
being sought by the few whose knowledge of the 
virtues existing in the watefs led them to this out-of- 
the-way place, it was to be in the reach of the many ; 
its springs to be as a magnet to attract the afflicted 
from every State, and to yield to thousands the boon 
of health regained. Yet, as was said by the Salt Lake 
Daily Tribune in its account of the springs in 1887 : 
" Of the tens of millions of people who inhabit the 
United States east of the Eocky Mountains, probably 
not one in a thousand has heard of the Soda Springs 
in Idaho Territory ; probably not one in ten thousand 
has any idea of their rare medicinal properties, and 
not one in a hundred thousand realizes that, in com- 
parison with them, all the famous spas of the old 
world sink into insignificance." 

But for all that, they were not entirely unknown 
even in days long past. "From time immemorial 
the virtue of these waters was known to the Indians ; 
they were officially reported by General Fremont in 
his explorations of 1843 ; they afforded health and 
invigoration to thousands who came ' across the 
plains ' in later years ; they were discovered by the 
Mormon explorers when they penetrated into the 
northern country, and were afterward solemnly 
blessed by Brigham Young. Their local reputation 
as a health resort has always stood high, and many 
have been the praises heaped upon them." Now, 
however, the ITnion Pacific has made them easily 
accessible from all points ; "the journey that required 
four months of incessant toil and hardship from the 
East to the springs, a palace car makes easily and 

30 



without a jar in one and a half days, while the route 
between the springs and the Pacific is compassed in 
the same luxurious way in two days." 

But it is of the waters we were about to speak : The 
importation of tabic waters from Europe is immense, 
and the statistics showed two years ago that there 
were twice as many thousand cases of Apollinaris sold 
in New York alone as the custom house showed was 
imported from all Europe, leaving the deduction 
that at least half the so-called Apollinaris sold in the 
United States is bogus. Beside, the Apollinaris is 
charged with gas to give it life. A large quantity of 
other water, ostensibly from other European and 
American springs, is also sold. Now it is known that 
the Soda Springs water equals or excels the best of 
them. The waters, as stated by the Tribune, "are 
charged with bicarbonate of soda, bicarbonate of 
potash, chloride of sodium and potash, sulphate of 
magnesia and lime, alumina, silica, carbonate of iron, 
free carbonic acid gas, and a multitude of other 
ingredients, and they are almost specifics for the cure 
of all manner of indigestion, all kidney troubles, up 
even to advanced symptoms of Bright's disease, and 
diabetes, dropsy and a thousand kindred ills; they 
take away all appetite for spirituous liquors, and the 
water is the pleasantest for table use that has ever 
been found. " Lately, about two years ago, " the Soda 
Springs Water Company was organized, and a series 
of scientific and mechanical experiments, continuing 
through several weeks, were carried on until the 
secret of bottling the water and retaining all its 
pleasant and medicinal properties was caught ; and 
now the water is on sale in all towns of the surround- 
ing country, and the trade has so rapidly extended, 
east and west, that it is believed it will practically 
drive out of use the water from European spas before 
the close of the present year." They are now bot- 
tling two million quarts every twelve months. 

The splendid new hotel erected and owned by the 
Xational Mineral Water Company, and now leased by 
the Pacific Hotel Company, was opened for the 
reception of guests June 1, 1888. 

The Idanha is first-class in all respects ; with all 
the modern improvements; water, electric lights, 
electric bells, etc. It has ample accommodation for 
150 guests. All passenger trains stop at its very 

31 



doors, and every attention will be paid to those honor- 
ing the new hotel with a visit. Kates will be from 80 
per day upward, with special rates for parties or fam- 
ilies, or those contemplating an extended stay. Livery 
service and attentive guides always to be procured at 
reasonable rates. 

Soda Springs occupy a valley in a depression in the 
Wahsatch Mountains, at an altitude of about 6,000 
feet. Around them the lofty peaks of the mountains 
are covered with perpetual snow. The region is full 
of interest, not to the geologist alone, but also to the 
ordinary sightseer. The number of springs, each 
with an individuality of its own, is amazing. Among 
the prominent and the curious we may specially name 
the following: The Idanha, the Hooper, the Mam- 
moth, the Eye Water, the Brigham, the Lime Kiln, 
the Champagne, the Steamboat, the Formation 
Spring and Cave, and Swan Lake. 

All the springs should be seen by persons wishing 
to realize the strangeness of the Soda Springs region. 
At different periods the under currents have changed 
their place of emergence, until the whole country 
shows traces of the limy deposits. 

At the Idanha the Xatural Mineral Water Company 
have their bottling works, and of the waters they bot- 
tle annually over two million quarts. The Hooper is 
a glorious spring, bursting out of the earth in a great 
volume of crystal clearness, sparkling brilliantly in the 
sunlight as it hurries away to form the greater part of 
Soda Spring creek. Its waters contain a somewhat 
larger percentage of iron than the Idanha, and differs 
somewhat in taste from that peerless spring. The 
Steamboat received its name in the early days, being 
described in the old guide books to California and 
Oregon. Its hot, jetting water gives off a noise of 
escaping steam exactly like the regular puffing of a 
steamboat. Formation Spring is particularly novel, 
and the cause of the name is a deep, well-like hole 
descending into the earth at an acute angle, being 
merely the crater of an extinct hot spring. Swan 
Lake is one of the most beautiful as well as most 
strange of all the springs; every effort to sound its 
depths has so far been unavailing; its waters are de- 
lightfully clear and of a deep green color. Oval in 
form, it is slightly more than sixty feet by forty feet 
across. On the west side the water trickles over a 

33 



bank thirty-five or forty feet high, which has been 
formed by the water itself, highly charged with lime, 
leaving a residue as the waters evaporated in the sum- 
mer sunshine. Around the margin bushes and wil- 
lows grow, and where the overhanging branches drop 
into the water they have become covered with the 
limy formation. Wagon loads of specimens, leaves, 
twigs, grasses, all intermingled in a net-work of stony 
embroidery, have been collected from the locality, 
and now adorn the cabinets of those prizing such 
freaks of nature, all over the land. 

' While mentioning the places of interest to be 
visited, we must not forget to mention the Big Bend 
of Bear river, about five miles from the hotel, and the 
crater of an extinct volcano, a few miles farther away. 
This volcano, when in an active state, poured its mol- 
ten lavas down into the canon of the Port Neuf, and 
out onto the Snake River plains beyond. 

The region around Soda Springs may be said to be 
a paradise for the fisherman and hunter. Bear Eiver 
always yields a fine reward to the lover of rod and 
line; what is known as Eight- mile Stream is even bet- 
ter, while the Blackfoot Creek, a tributary of Snake 
River, is without an equal for trout in all the country 
round; it is the trout stream par excellence. Of game 
there is the following: Ducks, prairie chickens, sage 
hens, geese, and swans. In the season thereof, ten to 
twelve miles from the hotel, among the spurs of the 
Wahsatch Mountains, deer and elk are quite plentiful, 
and the nimrod, if he so desires, can know what it is 
to face the bear. Those specially fond of duck shoot- 
ing should note the following: A party from Butte 
City, Mont., last fall, in a two days' hunt, secured 
500 ducks, besides something between thirty and forty 
geese. The fisherman fares equally well, and in 
hunting for the larger game the results are always fine. 

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SPRWGS/ 

The following analysis of Horse-shoe or Codman 

Spring was made by Mr. H. B. Hodges, Chemist and 

Engineer of Tests, Union Pacific Railway: 

Specific Gravity 1.0501 at 15 Co. 

Temperature of Spring 57° F. 

One gallon contains in solution : 

Carbonate of Lime 74.64 grains 

Carbonate of Magnesia 72 

Carbonate of Iron 2.59 



34 






( larbonate of Manganese 08 

Sulphate of Lime 1.13 

Sulphate of Magnesia 33.59 

Chloride of Magnesia 72 

Bromide of Magnesia 03 

Silica.. 3.71 

Alumina 18 

Bicarbonate of Ammonia 20 

Bicarbonate of Potash 5.48 

Bicarbonate of Soda 2.65 

Chloride of Lithium Trace 



grains. 



Total 134.72 " 

Total Carbonic Acid 178.13 " 

1 Liter contains 1,543 c. c. of Free Carbonic Acid. 

This analysis was sent to Prof. E. S. Wood, of 
Harvard Medical School, who records his opinion as 
follows : 

Harvard Medical School, Chemical Laboratory, 
Boston, Mass., April 19, 1889. 

The Codman or Horse-Shoe Spring water is very 
decidedly a chalybeate water and also a laxative one. 
It contains about twice as much carbonate of iron as 
the Saratoga High Kock Spring, more than twice as 
much as the Saratoga Hathorn Spring, and about the 
same as the Saratoga Pavilion Spring, all of which are 
highly praised as furruginous waters, as you are un- 
doubtedly aware. 

The water of the Codman Spring resembles, as far 
as the amounts of lime, magnesia and iron are con- 
cerned, the water of the famous Kissingen Springs of 
Germany, which are extolled as tonic and laxative 
waters. These waters contain, however, also consid- 
erable quantities of common salt, while the Codman 
Spring water contains none. 

I have no hesitation in saying that the analysis of 
Mr. Hodges shows that the water of the Codman or 
Horse-Shoe Spring possesses greater tonic and laxa- 
tive properties than that of many mineral springs 
which have received a world-wide reputation as tonics 
and laxatives. (Signed) Edward S. Wood. 

The following analysis has been made of the various 
springs in and around the town of Soda Springs : 



Temperature. 



Codman Spring 

Hooper Spring 

Idanha Water (90 ) S'g 
Mound Hot Spring . . 
Steamboat Spring . . . 

Roland Spring 

Octagon Spring 

Williams Spring 

Meadow Spring 

Triplet Spring 

Sulphur Lake Spring 



Water. Air. 



57 F. 
52 F. 



83 F. 
52 F. 
52 F. 
56 F. 
61 F. 



57 



6r, 



Total Solids 
per U. S. Gal. 



Grains. 

134.72 
79.95 
87.70 
197.98 
191.55 
170.50 
130.80 
139.86 



93.50 



Iron. 


Protox- 


Carbon 


ide. 


ate. 




2.59 


1.20 


2.91 




1.50 


".98 


2.11 


1.14 


2.50 


.44 


.91 


.27 


.51 



35 




FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 
Reached via the Union Pacific System. 



MONTANA 

Is an Indian word meaning *<the country of the 
mountains," and was visited by the French explorer 
Verendrye and his brother as early as L 743-44. The 
Leu is and Clarke expedition was here in 1805, and 
named the three forks of the Missouri respectively, 
Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson. This region was a 
part of the Louisiana purchase of 1803. The Terri- 
tory was organized May 16, 1864, and admitted into 
the Union in November, 1889, and is in extent 550 
miles from east to west, and nearly 300 from north to 
south, containing an area of 150,000 square miles. 
There are 16,000,000 acres of farm land, 38,000,000 
acres of grazing land and 14,000,000 acres of forest. 
One-fifth of the territory, or about 20,000,000 acres, 
, mountainous. 
g.' The third tour is made from Pocatello to Beaver 

fton. where the traveler outfits for Yellowstone Park. 

Alien Yellowstone Xational Park was set aside to 
e forever the grand tourist resort of the people, and 
:heir common property, few had an idea of the end- 
ariety and stupendous grandeur of the features 
embraced in this tract of country, fifty-five by sixty- 
five miles. The park embraces an area of 3,000 
square miles, has an average elevation of about 
8,000 feet above sea level, and is encircled by magnifi- 
cent mountain ranges. 

THE APPROACH TO YELLOWSTONE PARK. 

By entering the Yellowstone Xational Park by the 
Beaver Canon Route, the tourist is taken direct into 
the midst of the marvelous sights of that paragon of 
wonders. Instead of finding himself seventy-five 
miles away from any other features of the park (as he 
does at Mammoth Hot Springs), he is landed at the 
Lower Geyser Basin, the true pivotal point for the 
various basins, the lake and the Grand Cailon. The 
starting point for this desirable route is from the 
Beaver Canon Station, on the Utah and Northern 
Division of the Union Pacific System, and thence for- 
ward through a country attractive in the highest de- 
gree with river, mountain, canon and lake scenery. 
The terminus is in the Lower Geyser Basin at the 
hotel, within sight of the Great Fountain Geyser. 

37 



The advantages of this route are easily seen. With- 
out really doing extra staying, the traveler is made 
familiar with a portion of the West which is of great 
interest. lie sees the celebrated Tetons. Henry's 
Lake, the birthplace of an important branch of the 
Snake River : that river itself, where it rolls, a clear, 
glassy stream through pine woods; the Tyghee 
Pa—, the south fork of the Madison, and is brought 
into the very heart of wonderland. 

The start is made in the morning. We traverse 
the Camas Meadows, from whence the Tetons are 
first seen ; the Antelope Valley, ford the Shot Gun 
River, and at sundown are at the night station on the 
banks of the Snake River. 

The Snake River is here no longer a turbid stream, 
flowing between walls of basalt, but bright, clear and 
glassy, gliding between banks intensely green, and its 
sliding mirror broken only by leaping trout. 

" Of all the lovely spots to invite the tourist to lin- 
ger in." says one who has been over the route, "none 
seemed so inviting to me as this. The smooth, 
glassy river swarms with the finest trout, the screech 
of the wild fowl is heard, game of the wilder sort, 
such as elk, bear and deer, roam over the mountains 
near by. The log hut is embellished with the skins 
of grizzlies, elk and other animals. This is a good 
spot to let your own camping outfit have a rest and 
try the repast served up. Trout and venison are the 
staples, and no stint. Travelers seem to gain won- 
derful appetites when they reach this place. 

"One of the attractions here is 

THE CATCHING OF TROUT 

With a spear. A fire of pitch pine wood is placed on 
an elevated grating in the bow of a flat-boat. The 
light attracts the fish, and the nimble operator spears 
the finny beauties with barbed spears. The night 
before I arrived there a gentleman caught 1,002 fish 
in one night. The lot weighed nearly 1,500 pounds. 
They are shipped to Butte, Pocatello and other 
points on the Utah and Northern, and must prove 
very remunerative to the parties interested." 

On the second day we are carried through pine 
woods by the Snake River, by Henry's Lake, up Ty- 
ghee Pass, and thence to the south fork of the Madi- 

39 



son and into the park by sunset. All of the places 
we describe in their several places. 

r HENRY'S LAKE. 

Henry's Lake is best seen as we commence to as- 
cend the foot-hill leading up toward Tahgee Pass, 
where it presents a beautiful appearance, lying in its 
deep basin, to the northwest surrounded by bold, 
picturesque mountains, a branch of the Rockies. It 
forms one of the sources of the Snake River — the 
Henry's Fork, which we see winding its sinuous course 
through the basin at our feet, " Across a long stretch 
of plashy meadow, interspersed with pools and netted 
with rivulets, a haunt for all the birds who love the 
shallow stream and grassy plain " on its way to join its 
brother stream that comes glancing down from the 
Tetons, away on the southern horizon. 

The Lake is situated in the center of a most inter- 
esting region — one of scenic beauty. To the north is 
the range of mountains which divides its basin from 
that of the Madison River, and through which the 
latter stream cuts its way in forming the middle canon; 
south is the great basin, stretching out toward the Wind 
River Range, and last the wooded mountains pierced 
by the Tahgee Pass, and west the mountains whose 
bold configuration has been already mentioned, and of 
which Sautelle Peak, an extinct volcano, is the prin- 
cipal eminence. 

" Henry's Lake is a fine illustration of a remnant, 
dating back probably to the pliocene times, when all 
the valleys of this region were filled with water, per- 
haps connecting the drainage of the Missouri with 
that of the Columbia, and, as the waters subsided, 
formed the great chain of lake basins along all the 
important streams on both the Atlantic and Pacific 
slopes, of which our present lakes are only insignifi- 
cant remnants. 

"The view from the mountains back to the north is 
very fine, and is described at length in the U. S. sur- 
vey of the Hayden party. As it describes an im- 
portant scene, we append it : 

"The view down Henry's Fork was remarkably 
fine. The air was clear and pure, and the valley to 
the junction of the Snake River was spread out -like a 
picture, while the magnificent range of the Tetons, 

40 



full fifty miles distant, seemed not half that Ear away. 
Henry's Lake was at our feet ; shallow and full of lit- 
tle islands, only a remnant of its former self. To the 
west there is a beautiful grassy valley, with a small 
stream that flows into Henry's Lake (Goose Creek); 
this valley leads up to the divide, from which the 
west fork of the Madison take its rise. South of the 
valley there is a belt of metamorphic rocks extending 
far off to the west, rising 800 to 1,200 feet above the 
lake. On the south side, and extending to the south- 
west toward Red Rock Lake, is another valley which 
forms a beautiful pass. The long belt of mountains 
between the two passes is grassed over or thickly 
wooded with pines, while the range on the south 
side of the lake, which extends off in a southern di- 
rection from Henry's Fork Valley, is heavily timbered. 
This is a fine range, and at the same time covered 
with patches of snow. The first peak to the east is 
about 10,000 feet, the second peak 10,500 and the 
third peak in the range 10,000 feet. This will afford 
some idea of the general elevation of these mountains. 
" To the east the mountains generally bend down to 
the valley, but are covered with a dense growth of 
pines. Far southward extends the valley of Henry's 
Fork — a marvel of beauty and freshness. The upper 
portion, for an extent of twenty to twenty-five miles 
in length and from five to ten miles in width, is like 
a meadow, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, 
while flowing from the lake and winding through the 
middle of the valley, receiving on either side numer- 
ous branches, is Henry's Fork. Still farther south- 
ward is a dense black mass of pines, and just on the 
dim horizon, more than one hundred miles distant, is 
the range of mountains that forms one side of the 
Snake River Basin near Fort Hall. Xorth of this is 
the wonderful Teton Basin which is also like a 
meadow. To the southeast the shark-teeth summits 
of the Grand Tetons are most conspicuous and clearly 
defined, rising so high above all the other peaks that 
they stand isolated, monarchs of all." 

TAHGEF PASS OR TYGHEE. 

Tyghee Pass, named many years ago after the head 
chief of the Bannock tribe of Indians, leads the 
traveler out of the Snake River Valley up over hill:, 

41 




LONE STAR GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 

Reached via the Union Pacific System. 



densely wooded, toward the south fork of the Madison. 
Hardly lias the ascent began ore he is among groves 
of cloud-like trembling aspen, whose green and silver 
leaves, shield-shaped, give a peculiar delicacy of col- 
oring to the scenes. The mountains on either hand 
are rugged and unique in form. At one place we 
look into a narrow side glen lorded over by a massive 
terraced peak, and at another three conical, butte-like 
mountains catch the sight, so densely covered with 
timber that it is impossible for the eye to distinguish 
any separate tree from out the mass, and all the trees 
of such a uniform height that their green tops make 
the mountains look as if only grass covered. At the 
summit of the pass we are on the ridge of the great 
watershed of the continent — the springs on one hand 
flowing down toward the Atlantic Ocean and on the 
other toward the Pacific, amid grasses and tangled 
fern, but a short distance apart, springs, icy cold, ooze 
forth and begin their long, separate journeys toward 
the rising or the setting sun. 

The ride through Tyghee Pass is delightful. The 
density of the pine woods covering the hills is won- 
derful to see, and wherever an open glade occurs it 
is richly green. A writer says : " There is one pecu- 
liarity of the tree vegetation all over this portion of 
the West — that it has a fresh, young look. The pines 
are seldom more than two feet in diameter, sending 
up a straight stem 100 to 150 feet high, and a large aged 
pine, or tree of any kind, is a landmark as well as a 
curiosity." 

Such a curiosity is the group of hemlocks at the 
top of the pass. The writer already quoted describes 
them: " In this pass there is a group of huge hem- 
locks that will at once arrest the traveler's attention. 
They seem to belong to another age. There are ten 
of them, and several others have perished. They are 
from four to six feet in diameter and rise to a height 
of 150 feet. This group of trees is the more conspicu- 
ous from the fact that they are larger than any others, 
in this region, and have a very ancient appear- 
ance." 

From the top of the pass we speed down, through 
groves of pine innumerable and over the border line 
of Idaho and Wyoming, to camp by the bright, spark- 
ling stream of the Madison. 



43 



SOUTH FORK OF THE MADISON. 

A noon halt is made at the South Fork of the 
Madison, close beside its dark blue waters as they 
come springing down over mossy boulders from the 
sun peaks to the south. The stream is cold and flash- 
ing at this point, and lower down where it debouches 
into the cut, it is "beautiful in its quiet flow — the 
water is shallow, clear, and at the bottom the bright 
vegetation may be seen like little green islands." 
Fish and game abound along its course, the mountain 
herring, graylings, whitefish and trout being all 
caught in the Madison. 

From the station the road is one of the finest in the 
world, for a distance of twelve miles passing over 
gently rolling hills, clumps of aspen and pine trees 
alternating and giving a park-like appearance to the 
landscape. At Riverside we again cross the Madison, 
which then disappears on the left through a deep 
mountain gap, and the road ascends some hills 
directly in front. An extended backward view is ob- 
tained during the afternoon, which embraces endless 
chains of hills and mountains, all their outlines 
clearly defined, in the afternoon sunlight, but grow- 
ing dimmer and dimmer with distance, those most 
remote seeming but thin veils of gauze stretched 
across the lower sky. 

Before entering the park we pass through long 
lanes, cut through the pine woods ; the road rises 
and falls like a monster serpent. Our first sight of 
a geyser will be perhaps at the end of one of these 
long vistas, and thus seen will never be forgotten. 
Besides the sights witnessed while en route the travel- 
ler is more than repaid for his stage journey by the 
first sight of the Lance Geyser Basin as the coach 
arrives at sunset at the brow of the overhanging 
hill. Before his sight will suddenly appear a strange 
spectacle, a narrow valley, with Fire Hole River 
winding through it. Long rows of campers' tents, 
horses cropping on the grassy meadows, evening 
campfires being lit, and all the busy preparations 
for approaching night engaging the attention of 
the campers. But back of this always pleasing scene, 
a marvel — water spouting from the earth, and 
columns of steam, and steam hovering overhead in 
clouds. 

44 



IN THE PARK. 

Geyser Meadows are two miles away. Here are sev- 
eral geysers which throw their torrents twenty-five 
feet or higher. Dome Spring is at the top of a calcare- 
ous deposit of livid colors, and some of its neighbors 
are similarly situated. " Queen Laundry " is a spring 
whose waters will almost instantly cleanse even the 
dirtiest saddle blanket, and which finally drop into a 
basin at delightful bathing temperature. Fairy Creek 
Falls jump 820 feet over an ad jacent cliff . "With these 
spouting, leaping novelties all about, Midway Geyser 
Basin is reached five miles from Fire Hole Basin. 
Here are the grandest hot springs in the world. The 
overflow of hot water comes from the Great Spring, 
the equal of which no human eye ever say. This 
aperture is 250 feet across and is walled in by sides 
thirty feet high. The surface is in constant turmoil, 
and the rising steam scalds the incautious. A glance 
into the gulf causes a shudder. Only a few yards 
away there is a cold fount twenty-five feet in diame- 
ter, filling an elaborately-chased basin of unknown 
depth. Near by are the Chalk Vats, bubbling and 
spurting their mushy compound, and throwing out 
splashes of it which vary from a snowy white to a 
bright pink. 

Upper Geyser Basin, eight miles from Fire Hole 
Basin, is the seat of the ten largest geysers ever dis- 
covered, besides which those of Iceland are trifling. 
There is a charming grove within a stoneVthrow of 
Castle Geyser, which begins to give vent to its pent 
up force in muttered thunder, and then its flood 
shoots over the cone, first a spurt and then a stream ; 
then with a shaking of the earth and the roar of a tem- 
pest, a river bounds upward like a rocket, submerg- 
ing broad acres with the descent of its boiling flood. 
Half a mile away " Old Faithful " spouts every fifty- 
seven minutes, throwing a stream several feet in 
diameter to a height of 200 feet. Across the river is 
the " Bee Hive," whose fountain flies 200 feet in the 
air, forming a crystal arch beautiful in the sunlight. 
" The Giantess"' has a crater eighteen by fifteen feet 
in diameter, belching forth such a volume as doubles 
the amount of water in Fire Hole River, here twenty 
feet in width and a foot deep. There is a thrill, a 
groan, a tremor, dense volumes of steam, a rolling 

45 



and clashing of unseen waves, and a deafening boom 
as an immense body of water is hurled upward to the 
sky, its extreme jet reaching 250 feet above the 
earth. 

Next is Gibbon Falls, where, in a wildwood tangle, 
they drop eighty feet ; then Gibbon Canon, with its 
sides 2,000 feet high, from which the tourist emerges 
into Elk Park. In the defile is heard a boom, boom, 
boom, that never ceases, and from an orifice in the 
rock comes steam in regular puffs as the pulsation of 
a great waste pipe of an engine. Monument Geyser 
and the famous Paint Pots, with their varied and 
vivid hues, are near by. Norris Geyser Basin is the 
next in order. It is the oldest basin in the park, t{ie 
hottest and most dangerous for pedestrians. To the 
right is Mammoth Geyser ; when at a rest a peep may 
be had into its gaping throat, and its blood-chilling 
gurgle can be distinctly heard. 

Yellowstone Lake is twenty-five miles from Fire 
Hole Basin. The altitude of this lake is 7,788 feet. 
It is thirty miles long and ten to fifteen wide, with 
numerous islands. 

The Natural Bridge of Eock spans Bridge Creek 
at a height of forty feet and affords carriage room. 
Down the river twelve miles is Devil's Den ; east of 
this is Mud Volcano. Brimstone Mountain is three 
miles below. Here pure sulphur is shoveled up by 
the wagon-load. 

The Upper Falls of the Yellowstone are reached by 
an easy trail. Here the rapids narrow to less than 
100 feet, and the overhanging rocks press so closely 
together that a bridge could be easily thrown across. 
The water eddies and cascades, and then flies down- 
ward 397 feet, while the grandest canon of the world 
stretches away 1,500 feet below. The mind cannot 
grasp Grand Canon ; words cannot paint it ; it glows 
with a life of its own, and with colors of its own, or 
born of the sun and the spray. Tower Falls and 
Canon are twenty miles from this charming spot. 
Specimen Mountain is forty miles from Fire Hole 
Basin. It is covered with agate, once wood, stone 
snakes and fishes, with crystals and petrified roots, 
while the view from the summit is sublime. 

And this is Yellowstone National Park. Words 
cannot convey a proper realization of its grandeur 
and magnificence. Nowhere else in America are 

46 



there such superb views as the Park affords; nowhere 
else such an abundance of finny game ; nowhere else 
such myriads of wild fowl ; nowhere else such a 
delightful camping place, or more perfect weather. 



GEYSERS. 

BY WALTER HARVEY WEED, U. S. GEOLOGICAL 
SURVEY. 

Early in the present century the attention of 
scientific men was attracted to Iceland by stories of 
wonderful fountains of steam and hot water found in 
that country, and such was the interest which these 
unique curiosities of Nature aroused throughout 
Europe that several expeditions were sent to Iceland 
to study the phenomena. To these fountains the 
Icelanders gave the name of geysers, the term being 
derived from the verb geysa, signifying to gush. 

A geyser may be defined as a hot spring which 
intermittently ejects a column of boiling water and 
steam. However no sharp line of distinction can be 
drawn, since in all geyser regions there is every grad- 
ation, from the quiet pool of warm water to a boiling, 
steaming spring which is intermittently agitated, and 
from the latter to a full-fledged spouting geyser. In 
the present paper I shall attempt to give an account 
of the general features of these beautiful fountains 
without treating the many interesting questions 
which come up in a discussion of the subject. 

In looking at the distribution of geysers in various 
parts of the world one is quickly impressed w T ith their 
great rarity. Hot springs abound in many countries, 
but boiling springs are characteristic only of regions 
of recent (that is geologically recent) volcanic activ- 
ity ; it is only in such regions that geysers occur. 
Until late in this century Iceland was the only land 
where geysers had been found. Less than forty years 
ago they were discovered in considerable numbers in 
New Zealand, and since then a few others have been 
reported from other parts of the world. The " Gey- 
serland " of the world is undoubtedly, however, the 
Yellowstone National Park, a region situated in the 
heart of the Rocky Mountains, at the headwaters 
of the Missouri and Yellowstone, and discovered so 
late as 1869. 

47 



In order to bring before the reader a general idea of 
the true relation of geyser vents to the surrounding 
topography and water-courses of the districts, a brief 
description of the three great geyser regions of the 
world will be attempted. It has been my good for- 
tune to have spent seven summers at the various 
geyser " basins" of the Yellowstone in connection 
with my duties as Assistant Geologist on the U. S. 
Geological Survey party under Arnold Hague. The 
other regions are familiar through the descriptions of 
friends who have seen them and the writings of other 
visitors to those countries. 

Iceland has already been alluded to as the birth- 
place of the word geyser. It has been called the land 
of frost and fire, and in no place are the evidences, 
nay, the very forces themselves, of frost and fire 
brought so forcibly in contrast. The island is emi- 
nently a volcanic region, a central tableland with 
sharp volcanic peaks, hooded with great Jokuls or 
glaciers, and mantled with perpetual snows, and sur- 
rounded by a more or less narrow strip of lowland 
bordering upon the sea. The evidences of internal 
fire are unmistakable. Hecla and other volcanoes are 
occasionally active, and the whole island is covered 
with lava poured oat by the volcanoes. 

The source of the heat supplying the geysers is 
unquestioned. As would naturally be expected from 
the combination of water and fire, hot springs are 
abundant and at a few localities geysers are found. 
The most noteworthy of these is Haukadal, where 
The Geyser, Strokr and a smaller geyser are found. 
This locality is about seventy miles from Reykiavik, 
the Iceland metropolis, and is only reached on horse- 
back over beds of clinkers and rough lava fields ; a 
dreary ride so far as scenery goes, but of fresh novelty 
to visitors from warmer lands. The hot springs are 
clustered in an area of about twenty acres, at the base 
of a hill about an eighth of a mile long and three 
hundred feet high, and at the edge of the marshy 
bottom that stretches out toward the Hvita river. 
The springs are really at the base of the seaward bor- 
der of the high ground where the waters that have 
percolated through the tuifs and porous lavas of the 
higher region would come to the surface. The two 
geysers, Strokr and The Geyser, issue from mounds of 
gray or white silica deposited by the hot waters, and 

48 



the neighboring springs are surrounded by lesser areas 
of the same material, while on the hillside back of the 
springs the rock is decomposed by the steam of fum- 
eroles. These two large spouters show two types of 
geysers. Strokr has a funnel-like pit thirty-six feet 
deep and eight feet across, expanding into a saucer- 
like basin. The tube is generally filled to within six 
feet of the top with clear water, which boils furiously, 
owing to the escape of great bubbles of steam coming 
from two openings in opposite sides of the tube. The 
eruptions are quite as beautiful as those of its more 
famous companion, the jets rising in a sheaf-like col- 
umn to a height of one hundred or more feet, erup- 
tions taking place at very irregular and long intervals; 
but by putting a lid on this great kettle, by dumping 
in large pieces of turf an eruption can be produced 
in a short time. 

The Geyser, on the contrary, is a pool of limpid, 
green water whose surface rises and falls in rhythmic 
pulsations. The usual temperature is but 170 de- 
grees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Fahrenheit, but 
varies, being greater immediately before an eruption. 
The shallow, saucer-like basin is about sixty feet 
across the slopes into a cylindrical shaft ten feet in 
diameter, forming the pipe of the geyser — this is 
about seventy feet deep. This regularity of the tube 
becomes important when we consider Bunsen's ex- 
periments and the theory of geyser action he deduced 
from them. Before an eruption bubbles of steam en- 
tering the tube suddenly collapse with loud but muf- 
fled reports and a disturbance of the quiet surface of 
the water. During this simmering, for such it is, 
the water rises in dome-like mounds over the pipe 
and overflows the basin, running down the terraced 
slope and wetting the cauliflower-like forms of sinter 
that adorn it. 

The eruptions have varied much in appearance and 
height since the geyser was first known. At present 
the column does not exceed ninety feet and the erup- 
tion lasts but a few moments. After it the basin is 
empty and seems to be lined with a smooth coating of 
white silica. 

The geysers of Xew Zealand are situated in a region 
clothed with a luxuriant vegetation that is in strong 
contrast to the bleak and barren lava fields of Ice- 
land, but an examination of the position of the 

49 



springs, with respect to the physical features of the 
region, shows that the situation of the geysers is 
nearly the same in these antipodal isles. The New 
Zealand geysers occur in the North Island, in what is 
known as the volcanic region, or the Taupo zone. 
Within an area of 4,725 square miles, in which none 
but volcanic rocks are found, there are six volcanoes, 
and great numbers of solfataras, fumeroles, mud vol- 
canoes and hot springs, and many geysers. The lavas 
are all of the acid type, mostly rhyolite, but are hid- 
den by surface-decomposition and an abundant vege- 
tation, save upon flanks of the peaks. The axial line 
of this zone runs northeast and southwest, each end 
being marked by an active volcano, and its course by 
a line of greatest thermal activity. This wavy line 
of hot springs follows well-marked physiographical 
features of the country, being characterized by river 
valleys, low plains and lake margins. On both sides 
of this central depression, the country is higher, pre- 
senting plateaus of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, and eroded into 
detached cut-blocks. Little is known of geysers on 
the shores of Lake Taupo, or those on the banks- of 
the Waikato river, but the famous terraces of Roto- 
mahana, called the eighth wonder of the world by 
James Anthony Froude, attracted attention to the 
geysers which formed them, and made their vicinity 
the best known part of the district. The warm lake, 
called by the Maoris, Rotomahana, was a shallow body 
of warm water, about a mile long, and a quarter of a 
mile broad, comprising 185 acres. The waters were 
of a dirty, greenish hue, reflecting the sombre green 
of the fern and the ti-tree-covered slopes about it, 
and the sedgy margins sheltered large numbers of 
duck and other water-fowl. Rising above its surface 
like stairways of delicately-sculptured marble, were 
the pink and white terraces. At the top of the 
terrace, 120 feet above the lake, was the Terata geyser, 
whose overflow had built up this wonderful work and 
filled the basins and pools with waters whose tints 
were both the delight of the eye and the despair of 
the pen. The geyser caldron was some sixty by eighty 
feet across, its clear and boiling water usually over- 
flowing, and occasionally ejected to a height of 40 
to 100 feet, wetting the steep banks of bright-colored 
fumeroie clays about the crater, but not forming the 
beaded geyserite, characteristic of so many of these 

50 






fountains. Such eruptions followed a period of 
quiescence, when the waters retired within the pipe 
for many hours. Owing to the comparative inacces- 
sibility o( the caldron and the beauty of the terraces, 
but few observations are on record of the action of 
the geyser. The water carried 150 grains of solid 
matter to the gallon, of which one-third was silica, 
and the daily outflow of 100,000 to 000,000 gallons 
per hour, brought up ten tons of solid matter dis- 
solved out of the underlying rocks. It is easy to see 
«rhat great underground caverns would be formed by 
this geyser alone in a comparative brief time. In the 
volcanic outbreak of Tarawera, in June, 1886, the 
waters of the lake and underground reservoirs were 
drawn into the newly-opened fissure, and by the ex- 
traordinary explosion that followed, the terraces were 
completely destroyed, and the site of Rotomahara 
became a crater that threw mud over the surround- 
ing country. 

The Yellowstone geysers are, doubtless, familiar to 
many readers of this paper. The geyser "basins," 
as the localities are termed, conform, in their rela- 
tions to the surrounding high ground and their coin- 
cidence with lines of drainage and the loci of springs, 
to the laws governing the distribution of the same 
phenomena in other parts of the world. The Park 
itself is a reservation of about 3,500 square miles, the 
central portion being an elevated volcanic plateau, 
accidented by deep and narrow canons and broad gen- 
tle eminences, and surrounded by high and rugged 
mountain ranges. This central portion whose average 
elevation is about 8,000 feet above the sea, embraces 
all the hot-spring and geyser areas of the Park. The 
volcanic activity that resulted in the formation of the 
Park plateau, may be considered as extinct, nor are 
there any evidences of fresh lava flows. Yet, the hot 
springs, so widely distributed over the plateau, are 
convincing evidence of the presence of underground 
heat. There is no doubt that the waters derive their 
high temperatures from the heated rocks below, and 
that the orgin of the heat is, in some way, associated 
vith the source of volcanic energy. 

The usual route of travel through the park, makes 
the Norris Geyser basin the first of the so-called 
basins seen. There are many reasons for believing 
this to be the most recent of the geyser areas of the 

51 



world, and here there are several examples of geysers 
spouting from fissures in the solid rhyolite. 

The greatest geyser of the park, and indeed, the 
grandest of the whole world, is Excelsior, some 
twenty-five miles beyond the Norris Basin. Unlike 
the less capricious and more fountain-like geysers of 
the Upper Firehole, this monster of geysers does not 
spout from a fissure in the rock, nor from a crater or 
cone of its own building. It is a monster of destruc- 
tion, having torn out its great crater in the old sinter- 
cover slope, builded by the placid and beautious Pris- 
matic Lake. The walls, formed by the jagged ends 
of the white sinter layers, which are lashed by the 
angry waters, are ever undermining the sides and en- 
larging the caldron. The eruptions are so stupendous 
that all other geysers are dwarfed by comparison. 
The grand outburst is preceded by several abortive 
attempts, when great domes of water rise in the cen- 
tre and burst into splashing masses ten to fifteen feet 
high, while the waters surge under the over-hanging 
walls and overflow the slope between the crater and 
the river. Finally, with a grand boom or report that 
shakes the ground, an immense fan-shaped mass of 
water is thrown up to a height of two hundred or 
more feet, great clouds of steam rolling off from the 
boiling water, while large blocks of the white sinter 
are flung far N above the water and fall about the 
neighboring slopes. It is a sight that inspires enthu- 
siasm in the most phlegmatic, and few can resist the 
temptation to give loud expression to their feelings. 
Unfortunately, this monarch of all geysers has ceased 
to erupt, but may be expected to break forth again at 
any time. 

A few miles beyond Excelsior is a group of geysers 
that is without a rival. Sentinel, Fan, Cascade, 
Eiverside, Mortar and Grotto, greet one on entering 
the basin, either by quiet steaming or by flashing jets. 
Giant, Spend id, Castle, Grand, Giantess, Lion, and 
Old Faithful are but a few of the wonderous foun- 
tains of the place. The last is most deserving of its 
name. Ever since its discovery in 1870, it has not 
failed to send up a graceful shower of jets at a regular 
interval of sixty-five minutes. Its beauty is ever vary- 
ing, as wind and sunlight play upon it, and the 
mound about its vent is adorned with delicately-tinted 
basins of salmon, pink and yellow, filled with limpid 

52 



• 




■ 



- 1* 



MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, LIBERTY CAP, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 
Reached via the Union Pacific System. 



water whose softness is enticing. It is the geyser of 
the Park and indeed of the world, and many a visitor 
to "geyserland" departs without seeing any other of 
the many geysers in action and yet feels more than re- 
paid for the journey. For beauty of surroundings, 
the Castle will perhaps be awarded the palm. Its 
sinter chimney, or cone, is formed of exquisite cauli- 
flower or coral-like geyserite whose general form makes 
the geyser's name appropriate. Its eruptions are fre- 
quent, averaging some thirty hours, when a stream of 
hot water is thrown up to a height of seventy-five feet 
for some fifteen minutes, followed by the emission of 
steam with a loud roar that can be heard for miles. 
A few hours after the eruption the tube is again full, 
and occasional jets of ten to twenty feet are thrown 
out until the next eruption ensues. 

GEYSEE WATEKS. 

The descriptions which have been given of the 
chief geyser regions of the world lead to the ques- 
tion : What is the source and character of the gey- 
ser waters? It has been plainly indicated that in the 
fields described, the vents are always situated along 
lines of drainage, on the shores of lakes, or under 
conditions where ordinary springs of meteoric water 
would naturally occur. 

That the geyser waters are surface waters which 
have percolated through the porous lavas, and have 
been heated by Encountering great quantities of steam 
and gases rising from the hot rocks below, there is no 
reasonable doubt. The proximity of ordinary cold 
springs and those of boiling hot water lends support 
to this view. 

These hot waters traversing the rocks in irregular 
fissures, readily dissolve out the more soluble con- 
stituents of the rocks, the amount and the character of 
the salts present varying somewhat with the nature 
and amount of gases held in the waters. Chemical 
analysis of geyser waters from the three regions de- 
scribed show no greater variation than those from 
different vents in any one of these regions. 

SOUECE OF HEAT. 

That the source of the steam is the still hot lavas 
below, and is in some way connected with volcanic 
action, is so evident from the facts that no other con- 
clusion is possible. A very common belief concern- 

54 



ing the source of the heat of boiling springs and gey- 
sers, but one which no longer has the support of 
scientific men, is that the heat results from chemical 
action, as it is vaguely termed. Were not the evi- 
dence so directly opposed to this idea, it would merit 
consideration, but so far as the heat of geyser waters 
is concerned, all observation shows it to be untenable. 
To this class of theories belongs the popular idea that 
the geyser basins are underlaid by great beds of 
(quick?) lime, which supply the heat and steam of 
the geysers. 

The smothered combustion of beds of lignite, coal 
or pyrites, is another form of the same theory that 
has been received with considerable favor, and still 
commands a few followers. That hot springs may 
have such an origin is not denied, but the geological 
conditions and environment clearly show that none of 
the great geyser regions of the world derive their 
heat from such action. 

AVhere the source of supply is deep-seated, spring 
waters always have an elevated temperature, gener- 
ally proportionate to the depth, but the very high 
temperatures of geysers and the local source of the 
waters excludes this theory. The folding and fault- 
ing of rocks is another source of heat made manifest 
by hot springs. 

It has been shown by Dr. Peale, however, that loll- 
ing waters are only found in regions of volcanic 
rocks, and pointed out by 1/ Apparent that geysers 
only occur in acid volcanic lavas. In Iceland the 
volcanic forces are still active, and melted lavas may 
exist at no great depths. In New Zealand the recent 
eruption of the eroded mountain Tarawera showed 
that heated rocks exist, and in that case rose up near 
enough to the surface to cause the explosion which so 
transformed the country. 

In the Yellowstone there are no active volcanoes, 
and none of even geologically recent activity. The 
lavas that fill the ancient mountain-encircled basin of 
the Park are scored by glaciers and deeply cut by 
running water, and the old volcanoes from which the 
lavas were, in part at least, outpoured, show no 
signs of having been active since Tertiary times. Yet 
in this region the expenditure of heat by the hot 
springs, geysers and steam vents would undoubtedly 
keep a moderate sized volcano in a very active state, 

55 



were it concentrated. There is no doubt that this 
heat is connected with the past volcanic energies of 
the region, and derived principally from the still hot 
lavas, three-quarters of the entire area of the Park 
(3,500 square miles) being covered by rhyolitic rocks. 
The significance alluded to above of the association 
of geysers and acid lavas (rhyolites) is possibly to be 
found in the fact that these rocks are more easily dis- 
solved by the hot waters forming the tubes and res- 
ervoirs for geysers. The situation of hot springs and 
geysers along water-courses has already been men- 
tioned. It is a well-known fact that the presence of 
water in the pores of a rock increases its capacity to 
conduct heat, so that we may surmise a rise in the 
local isogeotherm in such situations. 

GEYSER ERUPTIONS'. 

Geysers have often been compared to volcanoes, 
presenting in miniature, with water instead of molten 
rock, all the phenomena of a volcanic eruption. The 
diversity of form and varying conditions of activity 
of the hot springs found associated with geysers, 
makes it impossible to determine in every case 
whether a spring is or is not a geyser. Geyser vents 
may be mere rifts in the naked rock or bowls of clear 
and tranquil water, quiet until disturbed by the first 
throes of an eruption, and surrounded by white sin- 
ter deposits in nowise distinguishable from those 
about hot springs. In other cases the vents are sur- 
rounded by a cone or mound of pearly beaded " gey- 
serite," a certain and distinctive feature of a geyser. 

The displays of the great "Geyser" of Iceland 
have already been briefly described ; they may be 
taken as the type of eruptions from geysers having 
bowl-like expansions at the top of the tube, the so- 
called "basin "of the geyser. Where the vent is 
surrounded by a cone or sinter, as is so often the case 
among the fountains of New Zealand and the Yellow- 
stone, the first part of the geyser eruption is some- 
what different. Perhaps the most familiar geyser of 
this type is Old Faithful, the one geyser in the Yel- 
lowstone that is sure not to disappoint the visitor. 
Though surpassed by many of its neighbors in the 
height and magnitude of its eruptions, it holds a front 
rank for beauty and gracefulness. Previously her- 
alded by loud rumblings, with spasmodic outbursts 

56 



often to twenty feet in height, that mark abortive 
attempts fco Bend up its Bteaming pillar, the white 
column is finally thrown upwards with a loud roar, 
and mounts at once to a height that seems hundreds 
of feel as we gaze upon it. For two, or even three 
minutes, the column maintains a height which meas- 
urements show to vary from ninety feet up to 150 
feet, with occasional steeple-shaped jets rising still 
higher, the jets ever varying and giving off great 
rolling clouds of steam ; then the jets gradually de- 
crease in altitude, and in five minutes the eruption is 
over, the tube 1 apparently empty, and emitting occa- 
sional puffs of steam for a few minutes longer. 

During the eruption the water falls in heavy 
masses about the vent, filling the basins that adorn 
the mound, and flowing off in yellow and orange col- 
ored water-ways, while the finer spray drifts off with 
the breeze and falls upon the neighboring sinter- 
slopes. It is impossible to measure the amount of 
water thrown out, since it runs off in a number of di- 
rections in shallow rills that lead either to the sandy 
terrace near by or to the river. If, however, we as- 
sume that the column of steam and water is one-third 
water, a fair assumption, the estimated discharge is 
3,000 barrels at each eruption. 

Comparing Old Faithful with its Iceland prototype, 
we find considerable difference in the behavior of 
the two vents during the interval between eruptions. 
The former, like Strokr, has no bowl or basin, and 
the geyser throat or tube is partly filled with water, 
which is in constant and energetic ebullition, while 
the geyser is inactive. The tube and bowl of "Gey- 
ser " are, on the contrary, filled with comparatively 
cool water. In each case, however, the eruption is 
preceded by an overflow from the geyser tube, in the 
case of Strokr and Old Faithful, as jets of ten feet to 
twenty-five feet in height; in "Geyser "by a filling 
of the bowl and successive overflows, accompanied by 
the noise of condensing steam bubbles, a simmering 
of the water in the tube. Such preliminary actions 
are significant when Ave consider the theory of geyser 
action. 

THEORIES OF GEYSER ACTION'. 

The intermittent spouting of geysers was long a 
riddle to scientific men, for although several theories 
seemed each to offer a satisfactory explanation of the 

57 



YELLOWSTONE CANON, FROM FOOT OF FALLS, YELLOWSTONE 

NATIONAL PARK. 

Reached via the Union Pacific System. 



eruptions of " Geyser," they supposed conditions un- 
likely to occur in many vents. The investigations of 
Bunsen, and of Descloizeaux, who spent two weeks 

studying the Iceland fountains, resulted in the an- 
nouncement of a theory of geyser action which, with 
slight modifications, has satisfied all requirements, 
and is to-day generally accepted as the true explana- 
tion of the action of these natural steam engines. 
This theory, which bears the name of the illustrious 
Bunsen, depends upon the well-known fact that the 
boiling point of water increases with the pressure and 
is therefore higher at the bottom of a tube of water 
than at the surface. The temperature of water 
heated in any vessel is generally equalized by convec- 
tive currents, but in a long and narrow or an irregu- 
lar tube this circulation is impeded, and while the 
water at the surface boils at 100 degrees C. (at sea 
level), ebullition in the lower part of the tube is only 
possible at a much higher temperature, owing to the 
weight of the water column above it. 

In illustration of this theory a model geyser is eas- 
ily constructed of a glass tube of an inch or so in 
diameter and several feet long. When this tube is 
closed at one end, filled with water and placed up- 
right, we have all the mechanism necessary to pro- 
duce all the phenomena of a geyser. By heating the 
water at the bottom by the introduction of steam (or 
with a spirit lamp), we can produce eruptions whose 
period will depend upon the intensity of the heat. 
At first the bubbles of steam collapse in the cool 
waters at the bottom of the tube, but as the tempera- 
ture rises the bubbles rise part way up the tube and 
heat the lower part of the column to a high tempera- 
ture while the water near the surface is still cool. 
Eventually the water at the bottom reaches the pres- 
sure boiling point, when steam is formed, lifting the 
water above it, and causing an overflow at the top. 
This overflow, or its equivalent, the filling of a shal- 
low basin at the top of the tube, relieves the pressure 
and all that part of the column whose temperature 
was previously below the boiling point but now ex- 
ceeds it, flies into steam and ejects the water above 
with great violence. The glass walls of our geyser 
tube permit us to watch the gradual heating of the 
water by means of thermometers suspended in the 
tube, the ascent and collapse of steam bubbles, the 

59 



overflow and abortive attempts to erupt, and the final 
ejection of the water from the tube. 

Where the tube is surrounded at the top by a basin 
no actual overflow need occur. Indeed there is in the 
Yellowstone a miniature geyser, aptly named the 
Model, with a tube but two inches in diameter, sur- 
rounded by a shallow, saucer-like basin, which has 
eruptions about every fifteen minutes of three feet to 
five feet in height in which scarcely a drop of water 
is wasted, but flows back into the tube after the erup- 
tion. During the interval between eruptions no 
water can be seen in the tube, whose basin and upper 
part are dry and cool. The first signal of the coming 
display is a quiet welling up of the water in the tube 
filling the little basin, which being relatively large 
and shallow relieves the water column of a considera- 
ble height. During the eruption which follow the 
spray is chilled by the air, falling back into the basin; 
at the end of the display the water is quickly sucked 
back into the tube and reheated for the ensuing erup- 
tion. 

At first thought the constant boiling of the waters 
in the tube of Strokr, Old Faithful and many other 
geysers seem to oppose the theory which we have just 
given. Observations show, however, that in many 
cases the boiling is confined to the surface and deep 
temperatures do not reach the boiling point corre- 
sponding to the depth. It is quite likely, also, that 
in some cases a lesser and independent supply of heat 
may connect with the upper part of a geyser tube; 
Strokr, we know, has two vents, one of which is the 
geyser tube, the funnel-like throat of Strokr being 
really but a nozzle to the geyser. 

It is unnecessary to describe the numerous other 
theories of geyser action; they all suppose caverns or 
systems of chambers and tubes, of definite arrange- 
ment, a supposition most unlikely to occur in many 
cases, and made unnecessary by Bunsen's theory. 
Local expansions and irregularities of the tube do ex- 
ist, and to them we owe many of the individual pe- 
culiarities of geysers, but such chambers do not form 
a vital, essential part of the geyser mechanism. 

In an excellent resume of the various theories of 
geyser action, Dr. A. 0. Peale states that he believes 
no one theory is adequate to explain all the phenom- 

60 



ena of geyser action, though Bunsen's theory conns 
nearest to it. 

I believe, however, that Bunsen's theory is a per- 
fect explanation if we but admit that the geyser tube 
may be neither straight nor regular, but of any shape 
or size, and probably differing very much for each 
vent. The shape of the bowl or basin exercises but 
little influence upon the eruption. 

ORIGIN OF GEYSERS. 

It should be noted that Bunsen's theory of geyser 
action is quite independent of his theory of geyser 
formation. The building up of a siliceous tube by 
the evaporation of the waters at the margin of a hot 
spring, is a process which may be seen in operation in 
any of the geyser regions of the world; but it is not a 
necessary prelude to the formation of a geyser, for a 
simple fissure in the rock answers equally well, as is 
shown at the Nome geyser basin in the Yellowstone 
Park. 

The life history of a geyser varies, of course, for 
each one, but observations show that the following 
sequence of events often takes place. The hot vapors 
rising from unknown depths penetrate the rocks 
along planes of fracture and shrinking cracks, de- 
composing and softening the rock until the pressure 
of the steam and water is sufficient to force an open- 
ing to the surface, If this opening affords an easier 
exit for waters issuing at a higher level the fissure is 
probably opened with a violent ejection of mud and 
debris; more often the process is a gradual one, 
accompanying the slow eating away of the rock walls 
along the fissure. The flowing waters slowly clear 
out the fissure, forming a tube that permits the freer 
escape of hot water and steam, while at the same 
time the waters change from a thick mud to a more 
or less clear fluid. The spring, at first a simple 
boiling mud-hole, is now an intermittently boiling 
spring, which soon develops true geyser action. If 
the opening of the fissure afforded a new outlet for 
the waters of some already existing geyser, these 
changes take place rapidly, and eruptions begin as 
soon as the pipe is sufficiently cleared to hold enough 
water. The bare rock about the vent or fissure is 
soon whitened by silica deposited by the hot waters. 
This sinter may form a mound about the expanded 

61 



tube or basin, or, if the vent be small and spray is 
frequently ejected, it builds up the curious geyser 
cones so prominent in the Yellowstone. In cer- 
tain cases the building up of these deposits may par- 
tially choke the geyser's throat, and cause a diminu- 
tion of the geyser's energy, whose forces seek 
an easier outlet. In other cases the eating out of 
new subterranean water-ways deprives the geyser of its 
supply of heat, and the vent becomes either a tranquil 
laug or wholly distinct, while the pearly geyserite 
forming its cone disintegrates and crumbles into fine 
shaly debris, resembling comminuted oyster shells. 
Thus there is a slow but continual change in progress 
at the geyser basins, in which old springs become 
extinct and new ones come into being and activity. 

With few exceptions, where the vents are very new, 
geysers spout from basins or from cones of white sili- 
ceous sinter, or geyserite, deposited about the vent by 
the hot waters. Such deposits are formed very slowly, 
one-twentieth of an inch a year being an average rate 
of growth for the deposit formed by evaporation 
alone. These deposits of sinter are, therefore, an 
index to the age of the geyser. In many cases these 
sinter cones are very odd fantastic structures of great 
beauty while wet by the geyser spray, but becoming 
white, opaque and chalk-like upon drying. Where 
the spattered drops fall in a fine spray the deposit is 
pearly, and the surface very finely spicular. If the 
spray be course the rods are stouter and capped by 
pearly heads of lustrous brilliancy. Thus the cone is 
not only a measure of a geyser's age and activity, but 
it tells, in a way, the nature of the eruption. 

P AETIFICIAL PRODUCTION OF GEYSER ERUPTIONS. 

Eruptions of Strokr have, for many years, been 
provoked by artificial means. The funnel-shaped 
geyser throat makes it an easy matter to plug it with 
a barrowful of turf cut in the adjacent marsh. This 
acts as a cover, confining the steam, which finally 
overcomes the resistance and produces an eruption. 
Travelers have also attempted to hasten the eruptions 
of geysers by throwing blocks of sinter down the 
tube, but it is evident that such measures can only 
succeed when the forces of heat and pressure . are 
in a very delicate equilibrium. 

In the Yellowstone geyser basins it has been found 
that geyser eruptions may be hastened or even caused 

62 



by the use of soap or lye. The discovery of this 
extraordinary fact was made in a very curious way. 
A Chinaman was engaged by the hotel company to 
wash the soiled linen ; thinking to utilize the abund- 
ance of hot water provided by nature, a rude canvas 
building was put up over a small, circular, boiling 
spring near the edge of the Firehole river. In this 
spring the partly cleansed and soaped clothes were 
put to boil, suspended in a wicker basket. All went 
well until the Chinaman left his bar of soap with the 
clothes, when the spring suddenly threw out basket, 
clothes and hot water, wrecking the shanty and start- 
ing the Chinaman on a run from a place that was too 
near the infernal regions for comfort. This eruption, 
and the observed effect of soap in increasing the ebul- 
lition of boiling springs, led to the use of soap to 
produce eruptions of this boiling but not spouting 
spring, thenceforth known as the Chinaman. 

The success attending the use of soap in this 
instance suggested to a photographer, F. Jay Haynes, 
the use of soap, or its equivalent, lye, to hasten erup- 
tions of those geysers of which he desired to obtain 
photographs, and led to experiments by the Geologi- 
cal Survey showing that eruptions can be produced in 
many cases of geysers, which have been most capri- 
cious in their exhibitions, or have been inactive for 
weeks or even months. The conditions essential to 
the successful use of soap or lye for this purpose seem 
tc be that the geyser-tube be small, and the water 
near its boiling point, if not actually boiling at the 
surface. Many of the bowls in the Yellowstone pos- 
sess a temperature at their surface exceeding the 
theoretical boiling-point for the altitude by one or 
two degrees. This apparently anomalous fact is not 
due to the mineral matter held in solution by the hot 
waters, for -the analyses show that amount to be too 
small to have any appreciable effect, but it is explained 
by the waters being free from air, it being well known 
to physicists that water freed from air has an increased 
boiling-point, because of the greater cohesion of the 
particles. The effect of the soap is to increase the 
viscosity of the w r ater, the consequent explosive liber- 
ation of steam producing an eruption. 

VARIATIONS IX GEYSER PERIODS. 

Many geysers are easily mistaken for simple hot or 
boiling springs, since during the long intervals be- 
as 



tween eruptions they present no indications of their 
true nature. 

The interval between eruptions is manifestly depen- 
dent upon the two factors of heat and water supply 
— variations in either or in both affecting the geyser 
period. It rarely happens that these factors are so 
constant that the geyser has a definite period. Even 
in the case of Old Faithful, the most reliable of all 
geysers, there are very considerable variations in the 
period, though the average is always constant from 
day to day. 

It sometimes happens that a slight change in the 
conditions — a lessened amount of heat, or increased 
amount of water — will cause a cessation of a geyser's 
eruptions for a long period. This has happened in 
New Zealand, where the Waikite geyser near Lake 
Eotorua, inactive for many years, suddenly exploded, 
scattering blocks of sinter and scalding several Maoris 
who happened to be near by. The Excelsior, undoubt- 
edly the largest geyser of the world, was not seen in 
action until 1878, continuing its periodic eruptions 
till 1882, when it ceased, and did not play again until 
1888. Last summer it was again inactive, though the 
water boiled furiously, bulging up several feet in the 
centre of the great cauldron. <* 

Observations made in New Zealand have led to the 
belief that the eruptions of certain geysers were 
influenced by the barometric pressure, and it is said 
that certain geysers are only active during the preva- 
lence of a northwest wind. Observations in the Yel- 
lowstone show no such correspondence. As a rule, 
the water-surface exposed is small, and the effect of 
temperature and pressure would be scarcely appreci- 
able, yet theoretically it is quite probable that, when 
the forces in a geyser are in a delicate equilibrium, a 
change of temperature and pressure of the air would 
be quite sufficient to cause an eruption. 

SUMMARY. 

It is believed that the facts recorded in this article 
show : 

1st. That geysers occur only in volcanic regions, 
and in acid volcanic rocks alone. In Iceland and 
New Zealand the volcanic fires are still active. In the 
Yellowstone region the lavas are chiefly of preglacial 
age. 

2d. Geysers occur only along lines of drainage, on 

64 



sho 



ores of hikes or other situations where meteoric 

waters would naturally seek the surface. Unheated 
waters are often found issuing in close proximity to 
geysers. 

3d. Geyser waters are meteoric waters which have 
not penetrated to great depths but have been heated 
by ascending vapors. 

■4th. The supply of heat is derived from great 
masses of lava slowly cooling from a state of former 
Incandescence, heating waters, which, descending to 
the hot rocks, ascend as highly heated vapors. 

5th. The intermittent spouting of geysers is due 
to the gradual heating of water accumulated in fis- 
sures or tubes in the rocks, the only mechanism nec- 
essary being a tube, w T hich may or may not have local 
expansions or chambers. 

6th. Geysers may originate in several w r ays, though 
I most commonly produced by the opening of new water- 
ways along fissure-planes of the rocks, by a gradual 
eating out of a tube by hot vapors ascending from 
below. 

7th. The thermal activity of geyser regions is not 
rapidly dying out. The decrease of heat is very slow, 
and though changes take place from year to year, the 
establishment of new geysers and new hot springs 
offsets the decay or drying up of old vents. 

SOAPING A GEYSEE. 

| A few years ago tourists amused themselves by 
! soaping many of the geysers in the park and watch- 
ing the commotion which the foreign substance cre- 
» ated. A very instructive and entertaining paper on 
| the subject of "Soaping Geysers," by Mr. Arnold 
I Hague, of the United States Geological Survey, was 
(read before the American Institute of Mining Engi- 
neers at Xew York in February, 1889. Mr. Hague's 
is at once so scholarly, and so interesting, that 
| it is worthy of permanent preservation, and is in- 
serted herewith in full: 

"At the Buffalo meeting, October, 1888, Dr. Ray- 
' mond presented a paper entitled, ' Soaping Geysers/ 
, in which he called attention to the use of soap by 
i tourists to cause eruptions of several of the well- 

I known geysers in the Yellowstone Park. Incorpor- 
ated in this paper appears a communication received 

65 



from me, written from camp in the park, in reply to 
some inquiries on the subject. The letter discussed 
somewhat briefly the means employed by visitors to 
the park to hasten the eruptions from hot springs and 
reservoirs of hot water, which remain dormant for 
days or even weeks or months, at a temperature near 
the boiling point, without any display of geyser ac- 
tion. As the paper has called forth considerable 
comment, I desire to elucidate one or two points in 
relation to the temperature of the springs, and to an- 
swer some inquiries about the composition of the ther- 
mal waters. 

" In the summer of 1885, a Chinaman employed as 
a laundryman for the accommodation of the tourists 
at the Upper Geyser Basin, accidentally discovered, 
much to his amazement, that soap thrown into the 
spring from which he was accustomed to draw his 
supply of water, produced an eruption in every way 
similar to the actual workings of a geyser. Tourists 
with limited time at their command, who had trav- 
eled thousands of miles to look upon the wonders of 
the Yellowstone, soon fell into the way of coaxing the 
laundryman's spring into action, to partly compen- 
sate them for their sore disappointment in witnessing 
only the periodical eruptions of Old Faithful. Suc- 
cessful attempts upon this spring soon led to various 
endeavors to accelerate action in the dormant and 
more famous geysers. In a short time so popular be- 
came the desire to stimulate geysers in this way, the 
park authorities were compelled to enforce rigidly 
the rule against throwing objects of any kind into the 
springs. . 

" In connection with a thorough investigation of 
the thermal waters of the Yellowstone Park and the 
phenomena of the geysers, I undertook a number of 
experiments to ascertain the action of soap upon the 
waters, and to determine, if possible, those physical 
conditions of various pools and reservoirs which per- 
mitted the hastening of an eruption by the employ- 
ment of any artificial methods. This investigation, 
conducted from time to time as opportunity offered, 
throughout the field season of 1885, included experi- 
ments upon the geysers and hot springs of the Upper, 
Lower and Norris geyser basins. The results proved, 
beyond all question, that geyser action could be forced 
in a number of ways, but most conveniently by the ' 

66 



Application of soap. The greater pari of the more 

Dowerful geysers undergo no perceptible change with 
1(1 i moderate use of soap, although several of them 
' nay, under favorable physical conditions, he thrown 
!! it times into violent agitation. In most of the ex- 
ir Deriments Lewis' concentrated lye, put up in half- 
'"' ;)ound cans for laundry purposes, was employed. 
11 Each package furnished a strong alkali, equivalent to 
u wveral bars of soap. In this form alkali is more eas- 

ly handled than in bars of soap, more especially where 
r " t is required to produce a viscous fluid in the larger 

-eservoirs, and in conducting a series of experiments 
*f<jr comparative purposes, it seems best, in most in- 
5 stances, to employ the same agent to bring about the 

lesired results. 
'-Old Faithful, the model geyser of the park, ex- 
1 tiibits such marked regularity in its workings that at- 
1 tempts to hasten its action appear futile. The inter- 

■ val between eruptions is about sixty-five minutes, and 
"rarely exceeds the extreme limits of fifty-seven and 
''seventy-two minutes. After an eruption of Old 
faithful the reservoir fills up gradually, the water 
"steadily increases in temperature; and conditions fav- 
' orable to another eruption are produced under cir- 
cumstances precisely similar to those which have 
E brought about the displays for the past eighteen 
* years, or as far back as we have authentic records. 
' The few experiments which have been made upon 
f 01d Faithful are insufficient to afford any results bear- 
r 6ng on the question; but it seems probable that soon 

■ kfter the water attains the necessary temperature an 
eruption takes place. 

" Of all the powerful geysers in the park, the Bee- 
; jHive offers the most favorable conditions for produc- 
(ing an eruption by artificial means, all the more strik- 
ing because the natural displays are so fitful that they 
(cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty. 
(Observations extending over a period of several years 
'have failed to determine any established law of peri- 
odicity for the Bee-Hive, even for three or four con- 
secutive months, although they indicate that some re- 
lationship may exist between its display and those of 
the famous Giantess. Frequently the Bee-Hive will 
jplay several times a day and then become dormant, 
'Showing no signs of activity for weeks and months; 
(although the water may stand above the boiling point 

i 67 



the greater part of the time. The name Bee-Hive 
was suggested by the symmetry of the cone built 
around the vent. It rises about four feet above the 
sloping mound of geyserite, and, in cross section, 
measures about three feet at the top, while at the 
bottom of the cone the vent is less than ten inches in 
width. From the top of this narrow vent it is only 
possible to sink a weight seventeen feet before strik- 
ing a projecting ledge, which interferes with all ex- 
amination of the ground below. The constant boil- 
ing and bubbling of the water, the irregularity of its 
action, and the convenient location of the geyser, 
within an easy walk from the hotel, make attempts to 
accelerate the eruptions of the Bee-Hive most attrac- 
tive to tourists. 

"In most instances such efforts are futile; yet suc- 
cess does so frequently reward the astonished traveler 
that, unless the geyser were carefully watched by the 
authorities, attempts would be made daily through- 
out the season. If the conditions are favorable to an 
eruption, it usually takes place in from ten to twenty- 
five minutes after the addition of laundry soap or lye. 
It is doubtful if more than two eruptions of the Bee- 
Hive has ever been produced on the same day by arti- 
ficial means, although I know of no reason, based 
upon the structure of the geyser, why more displays 
might not be obtained, for the reservoir and vent fill 
up with boiling water very rapidly after each erup- 
tion. 

"Although the Giantess is situated only 400 feet 
from the Bee-Hive, these two differ in surface and 
underground structure and mode of action as widely 
as any two of the more prominent geysers of the park. 
Around the Giantess no' cone or mound has formed. 
The broad basin is only partially rimmed in by a narrow 
fringe of siliceous sinter, rising above and extending 
out over the deep blue water. At the surface this 
basin measures about fifteen to twenty feet in width, 
by twenty to thirty feet in length. It has a funnel- 
shaped caldron thirty feet in depth, ending in a verti- 
cal vent or neck twelve feet deep, through which a 
sounding-lead may be dropped into a second reser- 
voir, meeting a projecting ledge or obstruction of 
some kind, sixty-one feet below the surface. After 
an outburst of the Giantess, the basin, which has 
been completely emptied of its water, gradually fills 



again to the top, and, for clays before another erup- 
tion, a steady stream of hot water overflows the brim. 
The intervals between the eruptions of the Giantess 
van from twelve to twenty days, and the displays last 
several hours, being unsurpassed for violence and 
grandeur by any geyser in the Upper Basin. Arti- 
ficial means have never been successful in bringing 
this geyser into action ; although, for days before an 
eruption, it is an easy matter to cause an agitation of 
the water by throwing into the basin small pieces of 
sinter, or to produce a boiling on the surface, lasting 
several minutes, by simply stirring the water with a 
stick. 

" The Giant, one of the most violent of the geysers 
in the Upper Basin, more closely resembles the Bee- 
Hive than any other of those along the Fire Hole 
River. It has built up a cone ten feet in height, one 
side of which has been partly broken down by some 
eruption more violent than any witnessed at the pres- 
ent day. Through this notched side, steam and bro- 
ken jets of water are constantly emitted; and, on this 
account, but little examination has been made of the 
underground reservoirs and vents. The Giant is fit- 
ful in its action, at times playing with considerable 
regularity every fourteen days, and at other times ly- 
ing dormant for nearly a year. I have no positive 
knowledge that an eruption of the Giant has ever 
been produced by any other than natural causes. At 
the time of my experiments, no eruption of the Giant 
had taken place for several months, although the 
water was constantly agitated, so much so that it was 
quite impossible to examine the vent with any satis- 
factory results. The only effect produced by the ap- 
plication of lye was additional height to the column 
of water thrown out, and a decided increase in the 
thumping and violence of the boiling. 

" In the Lower Basin the Fountain has been more 
carefully studied than the other geysers; and, its 
action and periodicity of eruptions having been fairly 
well ascertained, it afforded the most favorable con- 
ditions for observing the action of soap and lye upon 
the waters. In its general structure the Fountain 
belongs to the type of the Giantess, having a funnel- 
shaped caldron which, long before an eruption, over- 
flows into an adjoining basin. At the time of my ex- 
periments upon the Fountain, the intervals between 

69 



eruptions lasted about four hours. This interval al- 
lowed sufficient time to note any changes which might 
take place. My own experiments with lye yielded no 
positive results, although it seemed highly probable 
that action might be hastened by the application of 
soap or lye just before the time for an eruption, or 
when, for some cause, the eruption was overdue. I 
preferred to make an attempt to bring about an ex- 
plosion before the usual time, only waiting until the 
water in the pool had nearly reached the boiling-point. 
All experiments failed. The previous year, when 
wishing to produce action for the purpose of photog- 
raphy, I was enabled to accomplish the desired result 
by vigorously stirring, with a slender pole, the water 
near the top of the vent connecting with the lower 
reservoir. In this instance, it should be said, the 
usual interval of time between eruptions had long 
since passed ; the geyser was., so far as time was con- 
concerned, a half -hour over-due. My opinion now is 
that the experiments with lye failed because the tem- 
perature had scarcely reached the boiling-point. 

" The Monarch, in the JSTorris Basin, is quite unlike 
those already described, and affords evidence of being 
a much newer geyser. It is formed by two converg- 
ent fissures, on the line of a narrow seam in the 
rhyolite, probably coming together below the surface. 
The main vent measures about twenty feet in length 
and, at the surface, three feet in width. But slight 
incrustation is found around the vent, the conditions 
not being very favorable to deposition. In this nar- 
row fissure the water, which ordinarily stands about 
fifteen feet below the surface, constantly surges and 
boils, except immediately after an eruption. The 
intervals between eruptions vary somewhat from year 
to year ; but, at the time of these experiments, the 
action was fairly regular, the geyser playing every 
four hours. I was successful in obtaining an eruption 
quite equal to the natural displays, which throw a 
column of water fifty feet into the air. Here at the 
Monarch there is no surface reservoir, and the narrow 
fissure filled with loose blocks of rocks, around which 
the water is in constant agitation, prevents all meas- 
urements of depth. 

"The results of the many experiments, not only 
upon active geysers, but upon a large number of hot 
springs, determines fairly well the essential conditions 

70 



which render it possible to bring about geyser-action 
by artificial means. Negative results are frequently 
as valuable for this inquiry as experiments yielding 
imposing displays. 

"Outside oi' a few exceptional instances, which 
could not he repeated, and in which action was prob- 
ably only anticipated by a few minutes in time, 
geyser eruptions produced by soap or alkali appear to 
demand two essential requirements. First, the sur- 
face-caldron or reservoir should hold but a small 
amount of water, exposing only a limited area to the 
atmosphere ; second, the water should stand at or 
above the boiling point of water for the altitude of 
the geyser basin above sea-level. The principal factor 
which makes it possible to cause an eruption artifi- 
cially is, I think, the superheated and unstable con- 
dition of the surface-waters. Many of the geysers 
and hot springs present the singular phenomena of 
pools of water heated above the theoretical boiling- 
point, and, unless disturbed, frequently remain so for 
many days without exhibiting any signs of ebullition. 
It may not be easy to describe accurately these super- 
heated waters ; but any one who has studied the hot 
springs and pools in the park, and carefully noted the 
temperatures, quickly learns to recognize the peculiar 
appearance of these basins when heated above the 
boiling-point. They look as if they were "ready to 
boil/' except that the surface remains placid, only in- 
terrupted by numerous steam bubbles, rising through 
the water from below, and bursting quietly upon 
reaching the surface. 

• ' Marcet, the French physicist, has specially inves- 
tigated the phenomena of superheated waters, and 
has succeeded in attaining a temperature of 105 degrees 
0. before ebullition. Superheated waters in nature, 
however, appear to have been scarcely recognized 
except during the progress of the work in the Yel- 
» lowstone Park, in connection with a study of the 
! geysers. The altitudes of the geyser basins above sea- 
i level have been ascertained by long series of barom- 
etric readings, continued through several seasons. 
1 In conducting a series of observations upon the boil- 
ing-points of the thermal waters in the park, Dr. 
William Hallock, who had charge of this special 
investigation, determined the theoretical boiling-point 
by noting the mean daily readings of the mercurial 

71 



column. The exact boiling-point of a pure surface- 
water, obtained from a neighboring mountain stream 
and the boiling-point of the thermal waters from the 
springs, were determined from actual experiments by 
heating over a fire, employing every possible precau- 
tion to avoid sources of error. Surface-waters and 
deep-seated mineral waters gave the same results, and 
coincided with the calculated boiling-point at this 
altitude. Hundreds of observations have been care- 
fully taken where the waters in the active and running 
springs boiled at temperatures between 198 degrees 
and 199 degrees Fahrenheit. 

" As will be shown later in this paper, the thermal 
waters are solutions of mineral matter too dilute to 
be affected to any appreciable extent as regards their 
boiling-point by their dissolved contents. The theo- 
retical boiling-point for the springs and pools in the 
v Jpper Geyser Basin may be taken at 92.5 degrees C. 
(198 degrees Fahrenheit). In many of the large cald- 
roDS, where the water remains quiet, a temperature 
has been recorded of 94 degrees 0. (201.2 degrees 
Fahrenheit) without the usual phenomena of boil- 
ing. This gives a body of superheated water, with a 
temperature at the surface 1.5 degrees 0. (2.7 degrees 
Fahrenheit) above the point necessary to produce 
explosive action. Thermometers plunged into the 
basins show slightly varying temperatures, dependent 
upon their position in the basin. They indicate the 
existence of numerous currents, and a very unstable 
equilibrium of the heated waters, which are liable, 
under slight changes, to burst forth with more or less 
violence. It is under these conditions that geyser- 
action can be accelerated by artificial means. If, 
into one of these superheated basins, a handful of 
sinter pebbles be thrown, or the surface of the water 
be agitated by the rapid motion of a stick or cane, or 
even by lashing with a rope, a liberation of steam 
ensues. This is liable to be followed by a long boil- 
ing of the water in the pool, which in turn may lead 
to geyser-action. There is some reason to believe 
that, at least in one instance, an eruption has been 
brought about by a violent but temporary gust of 
wind, which either ruffled the water or disturbed the 
equilibrium of the pool, and changed momentarily 
the atmospheric pressure. 

"In Iceland, travelers have long been accustomed 
72 



to throw into the geysers turf and soft earth from the 
bogs and meadows which abound in the neighbor- 
hood, the effect produced being much the same as 
that of sinter pebbles and gravel upon the geysers in 
the National Park. So well was this understood, that 
at one time, a peasant living near the Iceland locality 
kept a shovel solely for the accommodation of those 
visiting the geysers. 

•• In my letter to Dr. Raymond, I mention the cur- 
ious fact that the laundryman's spring, now known 
as the Chinaman, in which geyser-action may most 
easily be produced by artificial means, has never been 
regarded by the Geological Survey as anything but a 
hot spring, and no one has ever seen it in action with- 
out the application of soap, except in one instance, 
when it was made to play to a height of twenty feet, 
after stirring it vigorously with a pine bow for nearly 
ten minutes. In our records' it is simply known as a 
spring. 

"If soap or lye is thrown into most of the small 
pools, a viscous fluid is formed ; and viscosity is, I 
think, the principal cause in hastening geyser-action. 
Viscosity must tend to the retention of steam within 
the basin, and, as in the case of the superheated 
waters, where the temperature stands at or above the 
boiling-point, explosive liberation must follow. All 
alkaline solutions, whether in the laboratory or in 
nature, exhibit, by reason of this viscosity, a tendency 
to bump and boil irregularly. Viscosity in these hot 
springs must also tend to the formation of bubbles 
and foam when the steam rises to the surface, and 
this in turn aids to bring about the explosive action, 
followed by a relief of pressure, and thus to hasten 
the final and more powerful display. Of course, relief 
of pressure of the superincumbent waters upon the 
column of water below the surface basin is essential 
to all eruptive action. These conditions, it seems to 
me, are purely physical. Undoubtedly, the fatty sub- 
stances contained in soap aid the alkali in rendering 
the water viscous. On the other hand, when concen- 
trated lye is used, it acts with greater energy, and 
furnishes a viscous fluid where soap would yield only 
surface suds, insufficient to accomplish any phenome- 
nal display. 

"It is well known that saturated solutions of min- 
eral substances raise the boiling-point very consider- 

73 



ably, the temperature having been determined for 
many of the alkaline salts. In general, I believe the 
boiling-point increases in proportion to the amount of 
salt held in solution. Actual tests have shown that 
the normal boiling-point of siliceous waters in the 
park does not differ appreciably from the ordinary 
surface-waters, mainly, I suppose, because they are 
extremely dilute solutions. 

"The amount of lye required to produce a suffici- 
ently viscous condition of the waters, increases but 
slightly the percentage of mineral matter held in 
solution. 

' ' All the waters of the principal geyser basins pre- 
sent the closest resemblance in chemical composition, 
and, for the purposes of this paper, may be considered 
as identical in their constituents. They have a com- 
mon origin, being, for the most part, surface-waters 
which have percolated* downward for a sufficient dis- 
tance to come in contact with large volumes of steam 
ascending from still greater depths. The mineral 
contents of the hot springs are mainly derived from 
the acid lavas of the park plateau, as the result of the 
action of the ascending steam and superheated waters 
upon the rocks below. These thermal waters are 
essentially siliceous alkaline waters, carrying the same 
constituents in somewhat varying quantities ; but 
always dilute solutions never exceeding two grams 
of mineral matter per kilogram of water. When 
cold, they are potable waters, for the most part 
slightly alkaline to the taste, and probably wholesome 
enough, unless taken daily for a long period of time. 



74 



"The following analysis of three geyser-waters, 
selected from the Upper, Lower, and Norris geyser 
basins, may serve to show the composition of all of 
them, the differences which exist being equally well 
marked in the analysis of any two waters from the 
same geyser basin : 





Bee-Hive 
Geyser. 


Fountain 
Geyser. 


Fearless 
Geyser. 




Grams 

jut kilo. 

of water. 


rvr cent. 

of total 
matter in 
solution. 


Grams 
per kilo. 
of water. 


Per cent, 
of total 
matter in 

solution. 


Grams 
per kilo, 
of water. 


Percent. 

of total 
matter 
in solu- 
tion. 


Silica 

Sulphuric A'd 
Carbonic Acid 
Phosph'ic A'd 
Boracic Acid. 
Arsenious A'd 

Chlorine 

Bromine 

Iodine 


0.3042 
0.0271 
0.0920 


25.12 
2.24 
7.60 


0.3315 

0.0195 

0.2307 

0.00004 

0.0138 

0.0027 

0.3337 

0.0004 


23.69 

1.39 

16.48 


0.4180 
0.0367 
0.0046 


25.60 
2.25 

0.28 


0.0145 
0.0011 
0.3894 
Trace. 


1.20 

0.09 

32.15 


0.99 

0.19 

23.84 

0.03 


0.0223 
0.0022 
0.6705 
0.0026 


1.36 

0.14 

41.06 

0.16 


Fluroine 














Hydr. Sulph. 
Oxyg'n (Basic) 

Iron 

Manganese - 






Trace. 
C.0654 
0.0002 
Trace. 
0.0057 
0.0014 
0.0010 
0.0379 
0.3522 
0.0035 
0.00015 


~~4.67~ 
0.01 


Trace. 
0.0113 
0.0006 




0.0364 
Trace. 


3.00 


0.70 
0.04 


Aluminum .. 0.0029 

Calcium 0.0039 

Magnesium _. 0.0002 
Pottassium __|o.0213 

Sodium 0.3118 

Lithium 0.0061 

Ammonium . 0.00021 
Caesium 


0.24 
0.32 
0.02 
1.76 
25.74 
0.50 
0.02 


0.41 
0.10 
0.07 
2.71 
25.16 
0.25 
0.01 


0.0002 

0.0092 

0.0001 

0.0415 

0.4046 

0.0081 

0.00025 

Trace. 

Trace. 


0.01 
0.56 
0.01 
2.54 

24.77 
0.50 
0.02 


Rubidium 
























1.21111 100.00 

1 


1.39979 


100.00 


1.63275 


100.00 



Bee-IIive Geyser, Upper Geyser Basin ; date of collection, 
September 1, 1884 ; temperature, 199.4 degrees Fahrenheit ; 
reaction, alkaline ; specific gravity, 1.0009. 

Fountain Geyser, Lower Geyser Basin ; date of collection, 
August 24, 1884 ; temperature, 179.6 degrees Fahrenheit ; 
reaction, alkaline ; specific gravity, 1.0010. 

Fearless Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin ; date of collection, 
August 18, 1884 ; temperature, 190.4 degrees Fahrenheit : re- 
action, neutral ; specific gravity, 1.0011. 

"The differences of temperature shown in these 
three waters are simply due to the varying interval 
between the time of collection and the last preceding 
eruption of the geyser. In the case of the Fountain, 
the water rises in a large, open basin, which slowly 
fills up, increasing in temperature until the time of 
the eruption, the form of the basin permitting the 

75 



collection of the water two or three hours before the 
next outburst. In the case of the Fearless, the sur- 
face-reservoir is a shallow saucer-shaped basin, into 
which the water seldom rises before attaining a tem- 
perature near the boiling-point. At the Bee-Hive, 
the water only reaches a sufficiently high level to 
permit of its collection without difficulty when the 
temperature stands at or near the boiling-point. 

" Dr. Raymond has made the suggestion that the 
addition of caustic alkali would possibly precipitate 
some of the mineral ingredients found in these waters, 
thereby changing their chemical composition suffi- 
ciently to affect the point of ebullition. At the same 
time he remarks that the geyser- waters are probably 
too dilute solutions to be much influenced by such 
additions. Anyone who glances at the analysis of the 
waters of the Bee-Hive, Fountain and Fearless, must 
see, I think, that they are not only too dilute to un- 
dergo any marked change of temperature, but that 
the mineral constituents consist mainly of the carbon- 
ates and chlorides of the alkalies, associated with a 
relatively large amount of free silica which would 
remain unacted upon by caustic alkali. There is noth- 
ing in the waters to be thrown down by the addition 
of alkali, or permit any chemical combinations to be 
formed by the addition of a small amount of soap. 
The desire of tourists to "soap a geyser," during 
their trip through the park, grows annually with the 
increase of travel, so much so that there is a steady 
demand for the toilet soap of the hotels. If visitors 
could have their way, the beautiful blue springs and 
basins of the geysers would be "in the suds" con- 
stantly throughout the season. Throwing anything 
into the hot springs is now prohibited by the gov- 
ernment authorities. It is certainly detrimental to 
the preservation of the geysers, and the practice can 
not be too strongly condemned by all interested in the 
."National Reservation." 

This route, with Fire Hole Basin as a center, brings 
the tourist near the leading attractions. 

From Fire Hole Basin — 

The Falls of the Madison are six miles. 

Foot of Madison Canon, eighteen miles. 

Falls and Canon of the Gibbon, ten miles. 

Monument Geyser, eighteen miles. 



76 






Midway GeyBer Basin, or u Sell's Ealf Acre/' three 

miles. 

Upper Geyser Basin, eighl miles. 

Yellowstone Lake, twenty-five miles. 

Yellowstone Kails ami Canon, thirty-two miles. 

Remember this route, via the Union Pacific Rail- 
way from either Council Bluffs or Kansas City, via 
Cheyenne. ( 1 reen River, Granger, and Poeatello, to 
Beaver Canon, and thence by stage to Fire Hole 
Basin. 

At Beaver Canon conveyances of any description 
can be obtained, baggage wagons, tents, camp outfit, 
bedding and provisions. It will be found pleasanter 
and more economical to make up a party of four or 
six for the trip. It will take a camping party ten 
days to thoroughly do all the many points of interest 
in the park, including a return trip to the Lower 
Basin. There is very fine hunting and fishing be- 
tween Beaver Canon and the Lower Basin, and all 
along the line of march. 



The following very interesting account of a deadly 
gas-spring in Yellowstone Park has been furnished 
this Department by the author, Walter II. Weed, Esq., 
of the United States Geological Survey. Mr. Weed 
has been engaged for seven years on government work 
in the Park, and is thoroughly conversant with the 
| marvels of that wonderful domain : 

" DEATH GULCH." 

BY WALTER II. WEED, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

The familiar fable of the upsas-tree, living in a 
valley of death wherein all life was killed by its 
deadly exhalations and the ground w r as strewn with 
the bones of its victims, has been proven, like many 
a traveller's tale, to be a highly colored and exagger- 
ated account of a natural phenomenon. The upsas- 
tree is now well known to have poisonous sap, but 
not poisonous vapors. But the story survives in the 
accounts given of the Death Valley of Java, which it 
was long believed no traveller could cross, " wherein 
every living being which penetrated the valley falls 
down dead, and the soil is covered with the carcasses 
of tigers, deer, birds, and even the bones of men, all 

77 



killed by the abundant exhalations of carbonic-acid 
gas with which the bottom of the valley is filled." 
Such .is the description given by Lyell of this famous 
valley ; while another locality is described as a place 
where "the sulphurous exhalations have killed tigers, 
birds and innumerable insects, and the soft parts of 
these animals are perfectly preserved, while the bones 
are eroded and entirely destroyed. The researches 
of Junghuhu have shown that these accounts are 
much exaggerated, the "valley of death" being a 
funnel-shaped depression but one hundred feet in 
diameter, instead of a valley half a mile across. In 
the bottom of this depression there is hole about 
fifteen feet in diameter, from which gaseous emana- 
tions are given out, which at times accumulate to a 
depth sufficient to envelop and suffocate animals on 
the bottom of the hollow. Repeated visits by Jung- 
huhu,. extending over a period of twelve years, showed 
that the amount of gas varied greatly from time to 
time, but rarely ever rose over two feet and a half 
above the bottom. At the time of his earlier visit, 
he found the body of a Javanese native in the depres- 
sion, but experienced no difficulty or oppression while 
there himself. This same body was still undecom- 
posed, owing to the preservative effect of the layer of 
gas, when he repeated his visit eighteen months later. 
The only other remains seen during his subsequent 
visits were the carcasses of six swine which were 
decomposed and putrid. At this time the absence of 
the gas was shown by the presence of a crow feeding 
upon the dead bodies. 

Though thus shorn of much of its former glory, 
this Pakaraman, or poison-hole, is the largest and 
most dangerous of the gas- springs or mofettes of 
Java, and indeed of the world, and really deserves 
the title of a natural death-trap. Though such ema- 
nations are common in all volcanic regions, this has 
been the only place known where the gases have 
accumulated, and caused the death of the larger 
animals. 

In the Yellowstone National Park, now so well 
known as the wonderland of America, there is a place 
equalling this famous death valley, and where the 
gaseous exhalations have proved fatal to numerous 
bear, elk and many smaller animals. 

This place, to which the appropriate name of 

78 



"Death Gulch" is given, was discovered by the 
writer during the summer of 18S8. while making a 
geological examination of the region. It is situated 
in the extreme northeastern portion of this reserva- 
tion, a short distance south of the mail-route, which, 
leaving Lamar River, follows up Soda Butte Creek to 
the mining-camp of Cooke City. In this region the 
lavas which till the ancient basin of the park rest 
upon the flanks of mountains formed of fragmentary 
volcanic ejecta. the tertiary andesitic breccias, which 
rest in turn upon nearly horizontal paleozoic strata ; 
while the hydrothermal forces, which are represented 
by the geysers and hot springs of the central portion 
of the park, where the lava-sheet is thicker, show but 
feeble manifestations of their energy in the almost 
extinct hot-spring areas of Soda Butte, Lamar River, 
Cache Creek and Miller Creek. Although hot water 
no longer flows from the vents of these areas, the 
deposits of travertine, sinter, and decomposed rock, 
attest the former presence of thermal springs. Gas- 
eous emanations are now given off, however, in con- 
siderable volume, producing extensive alteration in 
the adjacent rocks, and giving rise to sulphurous- 
deposits. 

It is at one of these places that the fatal ravine is 
found. Situated on Cache Creek, but two miles 
above its confluence with Lamar river, it is easily 
reached by a horseback ride of some five miles from 
the mail station of Soda Butte. The region is, how- 
ever, rarely visited ; for hunting is forbidden in the 
park, while the place has not been known to present 
any attraction for the few visitors who pass near it on 
their way to the well-known Fossil Forests and the 
weird scenery of the Hoodoo basin. 

An old elk-trail, which runs along the north bank 
of Cache Creek, affords easy traveling, and leads to a 
little opening in the pine-forest bordering on the 
stream. In the center of the meadow is a shallow 
depression, once the bed of a hot-spring pool, now 
dry, and covered with an efflorescence of salt, making 
it attractive to the elk and other game of the region 
as a "lick. v The banks of the creek opposite this 
meadow and below it are covered with ancient hot- 
spring deposits, which are very dense and hard, and 
at the borders of the stream have been polished by 
the action of the water until the surface shines like 

79 



glass. A hot-spring cone half washed away by the 
creek, and a mound of altered travertine on the 
opposite bank, show the character of the ancient hot- 
spring water, the rippled surface of the deposit being 
exactly like that of the beautiful terraces and slopes 
of the Mammoth Hot Springs. At present, however, 
the only thermal action is the emission of a little 
tepid sulphurous' water at the edge of the stream. 
On the other hand, the gaseous emanations are very 
striking and abundant 

In the middle of the creek, which here forms a deep 
pool about thirty feet across, bordered by the polished 
calcite already mentioned, the water boils up furiously 
at several places. This water is, however, quite cold; 
and the "boiling" is caused by the very copious 
emission of gas, mainly, no doubt, - carbonic acid, 
though containing some sulphuretted hydrogen, since 
its smell is quite noticeable, and the water is slightly 
turbid with particles of sulphur, which also coat the 
sides and bottom of the pool. Eising through the 
water of the creek, the great amount of gas given off 
at this place is easily appreciated, but equally copious 
emanations may occur from the deposits and old vents 
near by, which, being invisible, remain unnoticed. 

Above these deposits of altered and crystalline 
travertine, the creek cuts into a bank of sulphur and 
gravel cemented by this material, and a few yards 
beyond is the debouchure of a small lateral gulley 
coming down from the mountain side. In its bottom 
is a small stream of clear and cold water, soui with 
sulphuric acid, and flowing down a narrow and steep 
channel cut in beds of dark gray volcanic tuff. 
Ascending this gulch, the sides, closing together, 
become very steep slopes of white decomposed rock, 
the silicious residue formed by the decomposition of 
the rocks by acid vapors or waters. The only springs 
now flowing are small oozes of water issuing from the 
base of these slopes, or from the channel-bed, and 
forming a thick, creamy, white deposit about the 
vents, and covering the stream-bed. This deposit 
consists largely of sulphate of alumina. The slopes 
show local areas where sulphur has been deposited by 
the oxidation of sulphurous vapors, but no extinct 
hot-spring vents were found. About one hundred 
and fifty feet above the main stream, these oozing 
springs of acid water cease ; but the character of the 

80 



ilcli remains the same. The odor of sulphur now 

>mes stronger, though producing no other effect 

m a slight irritation of the lungs. The gulch ends, 

rather begins, in a " scoop " or basin about two 

tundred and fifty feet above Cache Creek ; and just 

below this we found the fresh body of a large bear, a 

silver-tip grizzly, with the remains of a companion in 

an advanced state of decomposition above him. 

Near by were the skeletons of four more bears, with 
the bones of au elk a yard or two above ; while in the 
bottom of the pocket were the fresh remains of sev- 
eral squirrels, rock-hares and other small animals, 
besides numerous dead butterflies and insects. The 
body of the grizzly was carefully examined for bullet- 
holes or other marks of injury, but showed no traces 
of violence, the only indication being a few drops of 
blood under the nose. It was evident that he had 
met his death but a short time before, as the carcass 
was still perfectly fresh, though offensive enough at 
the time of a later visit. The remains of a cinnamon 
bear just above and alongside of this were in an 
advanced state of decomposition, while the other 
skeletons were almost denuded of flesh, though the 
claws and much of the hair remained. It was appar- 
ent that these animals, as well as the squirrels and 
insects, had not met their death by violence, but had 
been asphyxiated by the irrespirable gas given off in 
the gulch. The hollows were tested for carbonic-acid 
gas with lighted tapers without proving its presence ; 
but the strong smell of sulphur, and a choking sensa- 
tion of the lungs, indicated the presence of noxious 
gases, while the strong wind prevailing at the time, 
together with the open nature of the ravine, must 
have caused a rapid diffusion of the vapors. 

This place differs, therefore, very materially from 
the famous Death Valley of Java and similar places 
in being simply a V-shaped trench, not over seventy- 
five feet deep, cut in the mountain slope, and not a 
hollow or cave. That the gas at times accumulates 
in the pocket at the head of the gulch, is, however, 
proven by the dead squirrels, etc., found on its bot- 
tom. It is not probable, however, that the gas ever 
accumulates here to a considerable depth, owing to 
the open nature of the place and the fact that the 
gulch draining it would carry off the gas, which 
would, from its density, tend to flow down the ravine. 

pi 



This offers an explanation of the death of the bears 
whose remains occur, not in this basin, but where it 
narrows to form the ravine ; for it is here that the 
layer of gas would be deepest, and has proven suffi- 
cient to suffocate the first bear, who was probably 
attracted by the remains of the elk, or perhaps of the 
smaller victims of the invisible gas ; and he, in turn, 
has doubtless served as bait for others who have in 
turn succumbed. Though the gulch has doubtless 
served as a death-trap for a long period of time, these 
skeletons and bodies must be the remains of only the 
most recent victims ; for the ravine is so narrow and 
the fall so great, that the channel must be cleared 
out every few years, if not annually. The change 
wrought by the water during a single rain-storm, 
which occurred in the interval between my first and 
second visits, was so considerable that it seems prob- 
able that the floods of early spring, when the snows 
are melting under the hot sun of this region, must 
be powerful enough to wash everything down to the 
cone of debris at the mouth of the gulch. 

Gaseous emanations are very frequent in volcanic 
countries, and may be either temporary or permanent. 
The former are, as is well known, particularly abund- 
ant after volcanic eruptions. The gases emitted 
from fissures in the flanks of Vesuvius are said to 
have killed thousands of hares and pheasants, and 
whole herds of cattle have been suffocated by volcanic 
gas given off near Quito. The permanent emissions 
of gas, such as the mofettes of Italy, the Laacher See 
and the Auvergne, remain unchanged, however, for 
centuries. Where carbonic-acid gas is evolved from a 
fairly uniform surface, it is quickly diffused into the 
atmosphere upon the slightest movement of the air ; 
but the case is quite different when the gas is emitted 
in caves or hollows in the ground. In such places it 
accumulated, because of its density and slow diffus- 
ion, until the hollows are filled to the brim, any 
excess being quickly diffused as from a level surface. 
Small hollows of this kind occur in the travertine 
deposits of the Mammoth Hot Springs of the park, 
and near the Hot Lakes of the Lower Geyser basin. 
In these places, small birds, mice, etc., attracted by 
the warmth of the vapors, or the dead insects, are 
often suffocated by the gases. Such hollows resemble 
the mofettes of thn Laacher See in Germany, where 

82 



dead mice and birds are always found, and are com- 
mon in other regions as well. The well-known Grotto 
del Cano, near Naples, is the most familiar example 
of such accumulations of carbonic-acid gas ; and vis- 
itors are frequently entertained by the asphyxiation 
of a poor dog, while the guide, whose head rises above 
the gas, is not effected by it. Death Gulch is, how- 
ever, without a peer as a natural bear- trap, and may 
well be added to the list of the wonders of the Yel- 
lowtone Park. 



HOW THEY SAW IT. 

The practice of presenting testimonials which bear 
witness to the scenic beauties of a railway route, is, 
as a rule, to be deprecated ; but, from among the 
thousands received by this department, the two fol- 
, lowing are selected because they fairly illustrate the 
feelings of every tourist who has visited that enchant- 
ing ground — the Yellowstone National Park. 

(From Rev. Dr. J. E. Hurlbut.) 

Salt Lake City, July 1, 1889. 

We have to thank you for a very pleasant trip to 
that w r onderof wonders — the great Yellowstone Park ; 
my entire party are enthusiastic in their loud praises 
; of every feature of the trip. 

We left Salt Lake City at 6 o'clock a.m., via the 
; Utah & Northern division of the Union Pacific Rail- 
way, and after a delightful ride by the side of the 
Great Salt Lake, and through Salt Lake and Cache 
valleys, we reached Beaver Cafion at 6:30 p.m. 

In Bassett Bros, we found men who gave us a good 
bed at their hotel, the best of food, and every ac- 
commodation we could ask for. Their drivers are 
very accommodating, and add very much to the en- 
joyment of the trip. 

The morning after our arrival we left for the park, 
driving through an open country. The streams are 
full of trout, and game is abundant, from bear and 
antelope to grouse and snipe. After three or three 
and a half hours' drive, we reached Hancock's, where 
we got a fine dinner. Driving four hours more, we 
reached Snake River, where we found very restful 
beds and appetizing food at the hotels there. 

The next day's drive is through the pine woods ; 
game is still plenty. 

A ride of four hours brings us to Tyghee Station, 
where a dinner of extra quality awaited us. Another 
ride of five hours, and we were landed at Fire Hole in 

83 



the park. For the last three hours of this part of 
the journey, we were in the park limits ; and, in 
crossing the Madison Divide, we enjoyed the finest 
extended view to be found in the Yellowstone coun- 
try. 

From Fire Hole Basin, we went to the Upper Gey- 
ser Basin, passing through "Hell's Half Acre," and 
visiting Excelsior Geyser, the largest in the world, 
but not now active, and returned to Fire Hole that 
night. 

The wonderful geysers are seen during this part of 
the journey — " Old Faithful," that — once an hour — 
spouts from three to five minutes, throwing a huge 
stream to the height of 150 feet ; " The Castle," 
whose loud roar gives him a noisy reputation ; " The 
Splendid," which, every three hours on alternate 
days, throws a stream 200 feet high, and numerous 
others of lesser note. 

The following day we left Fire Hole, and, in a drive 
of three hours and a half, visited Gibbon Falls and 
Canon, Monument Geyser Basin, Gibbon Paint Pot 
Basin, taking dinner at Norris Basin; and, after a 
three hours' drive after dinner, reached Mammoth 
Hot Springs, where we found the largest -hotel in the 
park. On our way, we passed Beaver Lake and the 
Volcanic Glass Cliffs, and through the Golden Gate, 
where the skill of an engineer has nailed the road to 
the side of the cliff. 

Returning the next day, we visited the Grand 
Canon and the Falls, and every one agreed with me 
that they are by far the grandest sights in the park. 

The next morning we returned to Fire Hole ready 
to come out, having seen the park as it should be 
seen. 

No one is so near to the Yellowstone as Salt Lake 
City can afford to miss an opportunity to visit this 
wonderful spot. 

Again we thank you for helping us to make a trip 
that will never be forgotten by any of us. 

(Signed) J. E. Hurlbut, 

Miss Hall, 
Miss Blodgett, 
Miss Merril, 
Miss Baker, 
Miss Hunt, 
Miss Mason, and others. 

(Prom Mr. George N. Smith, India.) 

Dear Sir : — Many thanks for your kindness and 
courtesies and that of your people from Beaver Canon, 
in and through the Yellowstone Park. The journey 
from the Canon is through a very pleasant country 
and good road ; the hotels on the way are patterns of 
cleanliness and good food ; such mountain trout it 
has never been my good fortune to meet before ; and, 

84 I 



as for the hostelry at Snake River, a sight of the pic- 
turesque location would pay for the journey if there 
were nothing more to he seen. You come upon it so 
unexpectedly ; the river Hows close to the door ; be- 
hind, a dark green pine forest ; beyond the river and 
the uplands, the giant mountains raise their snowy 
summits. But who can tell the wonders of the 
park ? It was a true report I heard in my own coun- 
try (India); but the half was never told. Time would 
fail to tell, had I the ability, of the wonders of the 
geysers, the exquisite tints of the hot springs, the 
marvels of the " Formations/' and last, but not least, 
the combined grandeur and beautv of the Grand 
Canon of the Yellowstone : gallant "Old Faithful," 
ever ready to repay the tourist for his journey, by 
displaying his glorious inverted cataract. The others 
are rightly named : " Grand," ''Splendid/' '"Giant- 
ess," etc. But my affections cling to the "0. F." 
Listen, the sixty-five minutes are nearly up, wanting 
only four. Here comes the steam, then a couple of 
buckets of water ; these premonitory symptoms are 
hardly given when, look out, here it comes ! Then 
nature "displays one of her superlatively grand, exhi- 
bitions ; a column of water 150 feet, instinct with 
life ; wave after wave of water pursuing each other 
up wards in obedience to some mysterious law, setting 
gravitation at defiance. The Irishman who depre- 
cated his friend's admiration of Niagara by exclaim- 
ing "What's to prevent its descent!" would find 
himself at fault here. Clouds and streams envelop it, 
thunder accompanies it, and scattered from it 10,000 
diamonds fall on every side ; but there, I must not 
belittle it by causing it to be imagined through the 
refracting medium of my description ; it must be 
seen to be appreciated ; it should be seen again and 
again till its grandeur fills the soul. I should be ac- 
cused of exaggeration and romance if I attempted to 
tell of the coloring of the many springs — the Morning 
Glory, the Gem, the Emerald — so I give it up. 

I am exceedingly thankful that it fell to my fortune 
to see these wonders with my own eyes, and the whole 
made so pleasant'by the amiability of all concerned in 
the transport. Yours truly, 

Geo. N. Smith. 



The Fourth Tour is from Pocatello to Butte and 

] Helena and return. From Pocatello going due north 

' we pass Beaver Caiion, where connection by stage 

line is made for the Yellowstone Xational Park; a 

' few miles brings the tourist within the confines of 

Montana. Passing the water line, Red Rock Station 

is the first point of interest.* Here the scenery is 

wild, and there is a peculiar formation of points of 

85 



jagged land, the highest of which is Red Rock, which 
juts up some 500 feet, and may be seen in either di- 
rection for twenty miles. Then through Dillon, 
which is in Beaver Head Valley, and one of the 
thriving towns of Montana, Silver Bow is reached. 
Prom Siver Bow the Montana Union Railroad, an 
auxiliary line of the Union Pacific Railway, branches 
off, one spur running to Butte City, another through 
Stuart to Garrison, where connection is made for 
Helena, and still another from Stuart to Anaconda. 

BUTTE CITY. 

Butte City, with an elevation of 5,492 feet above 
sea level, is the largest mining camp in the world, 
not even excepting Leadville, Colorado. Standing 
next to the Lake Superior regions in the production 
of copper, and first of all in silver output, attention 
has been drawn to it from all over tho world. 
Butte has a population of 10,723 people, is the pos- 
sessor of fine hotels and all the modern' conveniences 
of a large city. It is the greatest silver producer, 
not alone of Montana, but of the Rocky Mountain 
Mineral belt. It is situated on a gentle slope, and is 
surrounded by rugged and beautiful scenery, and 
takes its name from the point known as the Big 
Butte, located just north of the orignal town. It is 
ten miles to the main range of the Rockies, but tow- 
ering foothills have formed the Basin where Butte 
flourishes. From Butte City, points of interest in 
Silver Bow, Jefferson and Madison counties can be 
readily reached. Butte is a healthy place, and 
blessed with a pure and bracing atmosphere. Butte 
City presents many attractions to the tourist and 
health and pleasure seeker. 

ANACONDA. 

From Stuart, the Montana Union also has a branch 
to Anadonda. Here is located the largest smelting 
works in the world, the consumption of coal alone for 
these works being 300 tons per day. and the yield 
from copper ore is enormous. From Stuart, the 
pretty little town of Deer Lodge is but a short dis- 
tance, and is a point of much interest. 



86 



GARRISON. 

Further on is Garrison, a place of note, being the 
junction of the Montana Union branch of the Union 
Pacific Railway with the Northern Pacific, and for- 
merly the transfer point of passengers going to Port- 
land. But since the opening of the Oregon Short 
Line, the route is via Huntington, which is the direct 
line to Portland; the Garrison Routes is used for 
Helena business. 

HELENA. 

Helena, the capital of Montana, has an elevation 
of 4,266 feet above the sea-level, and a population 
of 13,834. Helena, besides being a great distrib- 
uting point, is also a mining camp, and is reached 
over the Union Pacific Railway, via Garrison, and the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. It is beautifully situated; 
Fort Benton to the north, Bozeman to the east, Vir- 
ginia City to the south, with Butte and Deer Lodge 
to the west. It has fine hotels, clubs, banks, news- 
papers, street cars — in fact, everything that contrib- 
utes to city life. 

The circumstances attending the birth of Helena 
are interesting. Four young miners whose names 
are not associated with the city's latter history, in 
May, 1864, were wandering along the main range 
prospecting. They had been unable to obtain claims 
in Alder Gulch, and their objective point, in case 
they should fail to strike a rich field of their own, 
was Kootnai, in British Columbia, where common re- 
port located valuable diggings. They camped one 
night in the gulch where Helena stands to-day, but 
though they found " color/' they were not particu- 
larly pleased. They doubted if gold was there in 
anything like paying quantities. They pushed ahead, 
therefore, crossed the range, and had gone as many 
as thirty miles northward when they encountered a 
man who dispelled their dreams of Kootnai. He 
said the good claims were all gone,, and the best of 
them were poor, anyhow. This news was a great 
discouragement to the party. They had a rather dis- 
mal council, and concluded that the gulch they had 
lately left was their only hope; Accordingly, the 
next morning they turned around and came back to 
the spot upon which t^cy had previously encamped. 

87 



They grimly named the valley "Last Chance Gulch/' 
and Last Chance Gulch it is to-day. They sank two 
holes to bedrock, and their hearts leaped high when 
they counted $3.60 in their first pan. Each of these 
four adventurers made a fortune from his claim, and 
soon a big camp was drawn together. One of the 
miners, who had been impressed with the fascination 
of Homer's heroine, gallantly urged the name of 
Helena as most appropriate for the name of the new 
city, and Helena it became. 

It stands to-day in the bottoms where the Last 
Chance pilgrims made their first discoveries. A more 
absurd and yet more picturesque situation would be 
difficult to fancy. Its chief business thoroughfare 
lies directly in the bottom of the Last Chance Gulch; 
at the further end of which the patient Chinaman is 
still washing out his pan of dirt and realizing a for- 
tune larger than, in his own country, he had ever 
dreamed of acheiving. Thirty millions were taken 
from Last Chance Gulch before it was abandoned to 
merchants and shopkeepers, and even now the builder 
of a new house can find laborers willing to dig his 
cellar for the dirt they take from it. There are many 
attractions for the tourist. Mount Helena is to be 
climbed, and the view from its summit well repays 
the labor. There are pleasant drives, one of the most 
popular leading to Hot Springs, four miles away. 
Prickly Pear Canon presents attractive features. 
* ' The Gate of the Mountains/' where the Missouri 
river bursts through, infinitely surpasses the Hudson 
Highlands, and for 100 miles down stream there is a 
succession of pillared hills, of castles, of eroded stone, 
of caves, and of falls. East of Helena are the White 
Sulphur Springs, Hell Gate Cation, and the Devil's 
Watch Tower. Northwest is Flat Lake, twenty-eight 
by ten miles, and the Twin Cascades, Elizabeth and 
Alice, falling 2,000 feet. The return trip is made to 
Pocatello, where the tourist once more joins the Short 
Line Division of the Union Pacific. From here the 
journey is resumed to Oregon, the Dalles of the 
Columbia, Portland, Tacoma, and Alaska. 



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Great Salt Lake never before having been described and pictured. 
Billiard and Pool Rules. Send 4 cents for postage. 

This pamphlet contains all the existing rules governing the games 
of Billiards and Pool, and may be relied upon as exhaustive and 
accurate. 

Comprehensive Pamphlets. Send 6 cents postage for each pam- 
phlet 
A Bet of pamphlets on Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, 
Oregon. Kansas, Texas and Washington. These books treat of the 
resources, climate, acreage, minerals, grasses, soil, and products of 
these various empires on an extended scale, entering very fully 
upon an exhaustive treatise of the capabilities and promise of the 
places described. They have been very carefully compiled, and 
the information collated from official reports, actual settlers, and 
residents of the different States and Territories. 

Crofutt's Overland Guide, No. 1. Send 50 cents. 

This book has just been issued. It graphically describes every point, 
giving its history, population, business resources, etc.. etc., on the 
line of the Union Pacific System, between the Missouri Eiver and 
the Pacific Coast, and the tourist should not start West without a 
copy in his possession. It furnishes in one volume a complete 
guide to the country traversed by the Union Pacific System, and 
cannot fail to be of great assistance to the tourist in selecting his 
route, and obtaining complete information about the points to be 
visited. 

From Summerland to the American Alps. Send 4 cents for 
postage. 
This is a short description of that magnificent country traversed by 
the "Texas Panhandle Route.'" recently made a part of the Union 
Pacific System. It will be found a handy volume for southern tour- 
vho intend visiting the North during the summer. 
General Folder. No postage required. 

A carefully revised General Folder i» issued regularly every month. 
This publication gives condensed through time tables: through car 
ice; a first-class map of the United Mate-, west of Chicago and 
St. Louis; important haggage and ticket regulations of the Union 
Pacific system, thus making a valuable compendium for thetrav 
eler and for ticket agent in selling through tickets over the Union 
Pacific. 

Gun Club Rules and Revised Game Laws. Send 8 cents for 
postage. 

This valuable publication is a digest of the laws relating to game in 



all the Western States and Territories. It also contains the various 
gun club rules, together with a guide to all Western localities where 
game of whatsoever description may be found. Every sportsman 
should have one. 

Hap of the United States. Send 25 cents for postage. 

A large wall map of the United States, complete in every particular, 
and compiled from the latest surveys; just published; size 46x66 
inches; railways, counties, roads, etc., etc. 

Outdoor Sports and Pastimes. Send 2 cents for postage. 

A carefully compiled pamphlet of some thirty pages, giving the - 
complete rules for Lawn Tennis, Base Ball, Croquet, Racquet, 
Cricket, Quoits, La Crosse, Polo, Curling, Foot Ball, etc., etc. 
There are also diagrams of a Lawn Tennis Court and Base Ball dia- 
mond. This pamphlet will be found especially valuable to lovers 
of these games. 

Pathfinder. No postage required. 

A pamphlet of some sixty pages devoted to local time cards ; con- 
taining a complete list of stations with the altitude of each ; also 
connections with western stage lines and ocean steamships ; through 
car service ; baggage and Pullman Sleeping Car rates and the prin- 
cipal ticket regulations, which will prove of great value as a ready 
reference for ticket agents to give passengers information about the 
local branches of the Union Pacific System. 

Sights and Scenes. Send 2 cents postage for each pamphlet. 

There are six pamphlets in this set, pocket folder size, illustrated, 
and are descriptive of tours to particular points. The set com- 
prises "Sights and Scenes in Colorado; " Utah; Idaho and Mon- 
tana; California; Oregon and Washington; and Alaska. Each pam- ' 
phlet deals minutely with every resort of pleasure or health within 
its assigned limit, and will be found bright and interesting reading 
for tourists. 

Stream, Sound and Sea. Send 2 cents for postage. 

A neat, illustrated pamphlet, descriptive of a trip from The Dalles 
of the Columbia to Portland, Ore., Astoria, Clatsop Beach; through 
the Strait of Juan de Puca and the waters of the Puget Sound, and 
up the coast to Alaska. A handsome pamphlet containing valuable 
information for the tourist. 

Theatrical Diary. Send 10 cents for postage. 

This is a Theatrical Diary for 1892-93, bound in Turkey Morocco, 
gilt tops, and contains a list of theatres and opera houses reached 
by the Union Pacific System, seating capacity, size of stage, terms, 
newspapers in each town, etc., etc. This Diary is intended only for 
the theatrical profession. 

" The Oldest Inhabitant." Send 10 cents for postage. 

This is a buffalo head in Sepia, a very artistic study from life. It is 
characterized by strong drawing and wonderful fidelity. A very 
handsome acquisition for parlor or library. 

Vest Pocket Memorandum Book. Send 2 cents for postage. 
A handy, neatly gotten-up little memorandum book, very useful for 
the farmer, business man, traveler and tourist. 

Western Resort Book. Send 6 cents for postage. 

This is a finely illustrated book, describing the vast Union Pacific 
System. Every health resort, mountain retreat, watering place, 
hunter's paradise, etc., etc., is depicted. This book gives a full and 
complete detail of all tours over the line, starting from Sioux City, 
Council Bluffs, Omaha, St. Joseph, Leavenworth or Kansas City, 
and contains a complete itinerary of the journey from either of 
these points to the Pacific Coast. 

Wonderful Story. Send 2 cents for postage. 

The romance of railway building. The wonderful story of the early 
surveys and the building of the Union Pacific. A paper by General 
G. M. Dodge, read before the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, 
September, 1888. General Sherman pronounced this document fas- 
cinatingly interesting and of great historical value, and vouched for 
its accuracy. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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